STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3360

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2675

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2675, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RAPID OHIA DEATH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for research to combat rapid ohia death.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Aha Moku Advisory Committee, Oahu Invasive Species Committee, Conservation Council for Hawaii, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, Hawaii Farm Bureau, The Nature Conservancy, and five individuals.

     Your Committee notes that the ohia is Hawaii's most common and widespread native tree.  Ohia trees can be found at various elevations and provide critical habitats for rare and endangered native birds and insects.  Your Committee finds that, in recent years, the disease known as rapid ohia death, caused by the non-native fungal pathogen Ceratocystis fimbriata, has been killing ohia trees in the forests and residential areas of Puna and Hilo on the island of Hawaii.  As of 2014, approximately fifteen thousand acres on the island of Hawaii have shown greater than fifty per cent mortality from rapid ohia death.  Recent estimates have found that the disease has affected thirty thousand acres on the island of Hawaii.  Your Committee further finds that rapid ohia death has the potential to destroy ohia trees statewide, which would be catastrophic to the diversity, structure, and function of the State's remaining native forests.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the amount of the appropriation from $600,000 to an unspecified amount;

     (2)  Correcting the reference to the Agricultural Research Service to indicate that it is part of the United States Department of Agriculture; and

     (3)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2675, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2675, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair