STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2363

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2078

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment, Water and Land, and Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2078 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUEO RESEARCH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Land and Natural Resources to conduct, in collaboration with the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, a two-year breeding ecology study and two-year foraging ecology study on the pueo on Oahu.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; University of Hawai‘i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources; Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu; Ho‘omanapono Political Action Committee; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project; O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i; Animal Rights Hawai‘i; and fourteen individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Your Committees find that the pueo, or Hawaiian short-eared owl, is an endemic subspecies of the short-eared owl that has a special place in Hawaii's culture and ecology. The State recognizes the pueo as endangered on the island of Oahu. Conducting comprehensive studies on the pueo will allow researchers to better identify preferred breeding habitats to ensure the continued survivability of the pueo in the State.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment, Water and Land, and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2078 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 Agriculture and Environment, Water and Land, and Higher Education,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair	________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair
	________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair