STAND. COM. REP. NO. 923

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 186

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 186, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COFFEE BERRY BORER BEETLE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to extend the sunset date of the pesticide subsidy program for two years and limit the amount of subsidies that each coffee grower can receive over a three year period.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Office of the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, Big Island Invasive Species Committee, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, ILWU Local 142, Hawaii Coffee Company, and nine individuals.

     Your Committee finds that Act 105, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, as amended by Act 152, Session laws of Hawaii 2015, established a pesticide subsidy program within the Department of Agriculture effective from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2019, with the purpose of providing subsidies to coffee farmers for the purchase of pesticides containing the fungus Beauveria bassiana to control infestation of the coffee berry borer.  Although Act 105 appropriated funds, the Act took longer than anticipated to be implemented, and the appropriated funds only became available at the end of 2016, more than two years after the effective date of the program.  This measure extends the sunset date of the pesticide subsidy program by two years to ensure it can be fully implemented within the time span originally envisioned in Act 105.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Appropriating general revenues directly to the Department of Agriculture for the pesticide subsidy program established under Act 105, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, as amended, instead of appropriating funds into and out of the pesticide use revolving fund; and

     (2)  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 Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 186, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 186, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair