STAND. COM. REP. NO. 432

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1059

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment, Agriculture, and Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 1059 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Authorize the inspection and treatment of regulated goods moving between islands;

     (2)  Prohibit transportation of infested material between islands;

     (3)  Authorize the designation of quarantine areas to isolate infested areas;

     (4)  Authorize the interisland or intraisland transportation of articles from a quarantined area if the consignor and consignee of the articles are participants in the Department of Agriculture's compliance agreement program; and

     (5)  Establish penalties for violations of intrastate transportation and quarantine laws and rules.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, University of Hawaii System, Nature Conservancy, and one individual.

     Your Committees find that the State has attempted to control certain invasive species but that control efforts are often too late to stop the spread of certain invasive species across the State.  As a result, invasive species now infest hundreds of thousands of acres and affect Hawaii's export industry, tourism revenues, property values, residents' quality of life, and the environment.  It is necessary to identify pathways and areas infested with priority pests and mitigate the chances that pests will enter transportation networks.  Implementation of this measure will enhance biosecurity and protect the State's environment.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment, Agriculture, and Transportation that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1059, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1059, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment, Agriculture, and Transportation,

____________________________ RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair	____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair
	____________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair