STAND. COM. REP. NO.  770-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 2843

      H.D. 2

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2843, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to provide additional funding for pest inspections, quarantine, and eradication by:

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

     (2)  Making the existing inspection fee for each twenty-foot equivalent unit per container applicable to marine commercial containers; and

     (3)  Establishing that freight transported into the state that is not in a container shall be assessed an inspection fee pursuant to rules.

     Additionally, this bill requires the Department of Agriculture (DOA) to assess fines for violations through rulemaking.

     The Hawaii County Council, the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, the Conservation Council for Hawaii, and the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species supported this bill.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources, DOA, Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, and Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.(A&B) and Matson Navigation Company, Inc., submitted comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting the provision establishing that freight transported into the state that is not in a container shall be assessed an inspection fee pursuant to rules;

     (2)  Repealing the existing inspection fee for each 20-ft. equivalent unit per container;

     (3)  In lieu of items (1) and (2), establishing a new inspection fee assessed on the net weight of the imported freight computed on the basis of 50 cents for every one thousand pounds of freight brought into the state, or part thereof;

     (4)  Inserting definitions for "freight" and "net weight";

     (5)  Establishing that the inspection fee is to be paid by the person importing the freight;

     (6)  Making it the responsibility of the transportation company to collect the inspection fee and forward the payment to DOA at the port of disembarkation;

     (7)  Deleting the provisions requiring DOA to assess fines for violations through rulemaking;

     (8)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

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

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

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair