STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2340

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2801

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Economic Development, Environment, and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2801 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BIOSECURITY PROGRAM,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the biosecurity program as the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture rather than a branch of the Department to enable the program to address biosecurity issues across the entire Department.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Hawaii Invasive Species Council, The Nature Conservancy, and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association.

     Your Committees find that biosecurity is an overarching issue that requires cooperation and collaboration by numerous parties, including but not limited to the Hawaii Invasive Species Council, Department of Land and Natural Resources, United States Department of Agriculture, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, and private companies.  Your Committees further find that the Department of Agriculture has multiple duties and activities that address the issue of biosecurity and that initiatives to improve Hawaii biosecurity go beyond the confines of any one branch within the Department; therefore, this measure is a common sense way to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the biosecurity program.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Economic Development, Environment, and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2801 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Economic Development, Environment, and Technology,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair