STAND. COM. REP. NO. 744
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 1062
S.D. 2
Honorable Donna Mercado Kim
President of the Senate
Twenty-Eighth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2015
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1062, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BIOSECURITY PROGRAM,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to expand the scope and authority of the Biosecurity Program in the Plant Quarantine Branch of the Department of Agriculture by making it a department-wide program.
More specifically, the measure repeals part VI, chapter 150A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, regarding the Biosecurity Program in the Plant Quarantine Branch and reenacts its provisions as a new part in chapter 141, Hawaii Revised Statutes, regarding the general authority of the Department of Agriculture.
Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and Nature Conservancy.
Your Committee finds that biosecurity is a priority for the Department of Agriculture and the State. Currently, the Biosecurity Program may only provide services to the Plant Quarantine Branch due to its statutory establishment within chapter 150A, Hawaii Revised Statutes. Reenacting the provisions of part VI, chapter 150A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, in the general statutes of the Department of Agriculture, chapter 141, Hawaii Revised Statutes, will authorize the Biosecurity Program to provide services for all branches of the Department of Agriculture, including the Livestock Disease Control, Plant Pest Control, Pesticides, and Market Development Branches.
Your Committee has amended this measure by designating existing sections 141-1 to 141-10, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as part I, chapter 141, Hawaii Revised Statutes, entitled "General Provisions".
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 S.B. No. 1062, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1062, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
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________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair |
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