STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2241

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2236

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs and Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2236 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to impose specified fines for failure to pay, bill, or remit the inspection, quarantine, and eradication service fee.  This measure further excepts liquid bulk freight and cement bulk freight from the inspection, quarantine, and eradication service fee and charge.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.; Hawaii Audubon Society; and Maui Cattlemen's Association.  Testimony in support of imposing fines was submitted by the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species; Conservation Council for Hawaii; Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter; Hawaii Food Industry Association; and The Nature Conservancy.  Testimony in opposition was received from the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association and AES Hawaii.  Comments were received from Grace Pacific Corporation and Hawaiian Cement.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committees find that adequate funding for the control and prevention of invasive species has been lacking for too long.  Hawaii residents, businesses, and agricultural operations are left to pay for the expenses of inspection and eradication.  Your Committees have been informed that an estimate from a reliable source pegs the costs to taxpayers at upwards of $400 million annually.

     Act 3, Session Laws of Hawaii Special Session 2008, enacted revisions to the inspection, quarantine, and eradication service fee and charge, codified as section 150A-5.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to add inspections of air freight.  However, Act 3 did not provide for fines for nonpayment of those fees and charges.  This measure addresses that statutory deficit.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting the provisions relating to an exemption of liquid bulk freight and cement bulk freight; and

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050 in the interests of continuing the discussions on this matter.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs and Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2236, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2236, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs and Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs,

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair