CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 142-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                 , 2008

RE:    H.B. No. 2843

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

       C.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir and Madam:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 2843, H.D. 2, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INVASIVE SPECIES,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

     The purpose of this bill is to support efforts to prevent the importation and spread of invasive species by:

     (1)  Expanding the items subject to the inspection, quarantine, and eradication service fee (inspection fee) to include any freight, including air freight or any other means of transporting freight, brought into the state;

     (2)  In lieu of the existing standard, requiring the inspection fee to be assessed based on the net weight of the imported freight;

     (3)  Requiring the inspection fee to be paid by the person responsible for paying the freight charges to the transportation company; and

     (4)  Requiring the transportation company to collect the inspection fee and forward the payment to the Department of Agriculture (DOA) at the port of disembarkation, provided that the transportation company is not liable for any fee that is not paid by the person responsible for paying the freight charges to the transportation company.

     Your Committee on Conference recognizes the potential difficulties in implementing the provision requiring the transportation companies to collect the inspection fee and forward the payments to DOA.  To provide additional time for DOA to work with the transportation companies in planning and designing a feasible collection system, your Committee on Conference has allowed additional time before this measure takes effect.

     Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing its effective date to August 1, 2008;

     (2)  Amending the definition of freight to mean "nonpassenger goods, cargo, or lading, transported for pay"; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2843, H.D. 2, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2843, H.D. 2, S.D. 2, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair	____________________________ CLIFT TSUJI, Co-Chair
____________________________ RON MENOR, Co-Chair	____________________________ JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Co-Chair
____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Co-Chair	____________________________ HERMINA MORITA, Co-Chair
____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Co-Chair	____________________________ MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Co-Chair