STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2652

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2755

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water and Land and Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2755 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 statewide assessment of pueo conservation status.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, University of Hawai‘i System, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, Animal Rights Hawai‘i, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, and seven individuals.

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, but a comprehensive assessment on all of the main Hawaiian islands has never been done. Conducting a comprehensive assessment on the pueo will assist in improving conservation efforts of the pueo across the State.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on 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. 2755 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 Water and Land and Higher Education,

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair

________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair