STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2050

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2568

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2568 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PESTICIDES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to implement the findings and recommendations of the Pesticide Use by Large Agribusinesses on Kaua‘i report.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action; Hawai‘i Center for Food Safety; Beyond Organic Consulting, Inc.; We Are One, Inc.; GMO Free Kauai; Citizens4AHealthierMaui; and forty-nine individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawai‘i Farm Bureau; Hawaii Floriculture & Nursery Association; and Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Western Plant Health Association and Hawaii Crop Improvement Association.

Your Committee finds that the County of Kauai passed Ordinance 960, relating to pesticides and genetically modified organisms, in 2013, which was overturned in federal court in 2014. The ordinance contained a provision to create a Joint Fact Finding Group to help address key environmental and public health questions related to large-scale commercial agriculture entities using pesticides on the island of Kauai. When the ordinance was struck down by the court, the Department of Agriculture and the Kauai County Office of the Mayor contracted an independent public policy group, The ACCORD 3.0 Network, to facilitate the Joint Fact Finding Group project. The group was charged with gathering accurate information on the lands used by the seed companies and Kauai Coffee, their pesticide usage, and evidence of any possible adverse health and environmental impacts.

Your Committee finds that the study group issued its findings and recommendations on May 25, 2016, in a report titled, Pesticide Use by Large Agribusinesses on Kaua‘i, and arrived at the following conclusions regarding health and environmental impacts on the west side of Kauai:

(1) The Kauai health data examined is very limited and does not show a causal relationship between the pesticides used by the seed companies and health problems found on the west side or any other part of Kauai; and

(2) There needs to be additional data gathering going forward to continue to demonstrate the impacts, if any, of agricultural pesticide use.

The report requests an appropriation of $3,000,000 to implement numerous recommendations. Your Committee supports a statewide effort to ensure that the people and environment of Hawaii are protected against any possible adverse effects of pesticide use.

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 S.B. No. 2568 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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MIKE GABBARD, Chair