STAND. COM. REP. NO 132

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 435

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 435 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAWAIIAN PLANTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require all publicly funded landscaping projects to include a minimum percentage of Hawaiian plants, in order to contribute to a Hawaiian sense of place, reduce the use of non-native invasive plant species, and support the preservation of Hawaii's cultural and ecological heritage.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services, Department of Transportation, Judiciary, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Uhane Pohaku Na Moku O Hawaii, Kuaaina Ulu Auamo, Hawaii Farmers Union United, The Nature Conservancy, Hawaii Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development, Hawaii Green Growth, Alii Pauahi Hawaiian Civic Club, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, Island STAR, Big Island Plants, Hookipa Network-Kauai, and thirty individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and State Procurement Office.

     Your Committee finds that the use of native Hawaiian plants promotes a Hawaiian sense of place and works to preserve Hawaii's cultural and ecological heritage.  The use of Hawaiian plants in public landscaping will help to reverse the rapid decline of ecologically important species and other native life that may depend upon them.  The increased use of Hawaiian plants will also drive demand for such plants, benefitting local Hawaiian plant growers.  For these reasons, it is important that the State make the use of Hawaiian plants in public landscaping a priority.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting language that referenced the Hawai‘i-Pacific weed risk assessment system;

     (2)  Deleting language that provided exclusions from the total plant footprint for the purposes of calculating the required minimum percentages of the total plant footprint;

     (3)  Deleting language that exempted landscaping associated with significant historical properties;

     (4)  Inserting language to allow the head of the purchasing agency to determine exceptions to the required use of Hawaiian plants using procedures, standards, or guidelines established by the Procurement Policy Board; and

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 435, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 435, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Government Operations,

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair