STAND. COM. REP. NO. 5-20

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2020

RE: H.B. No. 1861

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 1861 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Extend the Pesticide Subsidy Program to June 30, 2025;

(2) Extend the Pesticide Subsidy Program Manager position and the position's civil service and collective bargaining laws exemption to June 30, 2026; and

(3) Appropriate funds for the Program and Program Manager position.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Office of the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Lyman Kona Coffee Farms, Kona Coffee Farmers Association, Cassandra Farms, Rancho Aloha Kona Coffee, Hawaii Coffee Association, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Big Island Invasive Species Committee, Kona Mountain Coffee, and eleven individuals.

Your Committee finds that Act 105, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, established a temporary Pesticide Subsidy Program in the Department of Agriculture to assist coffee growers with offsetting the costs of purchasing pesticides containing Beauveria bassiana as an active ingredient to combat the coffee berry borer, a highly destructive pest that has infested coffee crops on Hawaii and has recently been detected on Oahu and Maui. Additionally, Act 152, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, established a full-time temporary manager position for the Pesticide Subsidy Program, exempt from chapters 76 and 89, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The Program will be repealed on June 30, 2021, and the Program Manager position will be repealed on June 30, 2022. Your Committee finds that extending the Program to June 30, 2025, and the Program Manager position to June 30, 2026, will continue to help farmers in controlling the coffee berry borer and mitigating the damage it causes to coffee beans.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2150, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1861, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1861, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

RICHARD P. CREAGAN, Chair