STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1130

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 755

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 755, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AQUATIC NUISANCE SPECIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize the Department of Land and Natural Resources to adopt rules to prevent and respond to the introduction of aquatic nuisance species from discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel;

(2) Establish penalties for violations; and

(3) Contemplate the relationship between the federal Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018, as amended, and state law.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Young Brothers, LLC; Hawaii Harbor Users Group; and Matson Navigation Company, Inc.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 755, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

____________________________

KYLE T. YAMASHITA, Chair