STAND. COM. REP. NO. 267

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1187

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1187 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL BIOSECURITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Agriculture (Department) for forty-four full-time equivalent (44.0 FTE) permanent positions in agricultural biosecurity established by Act 231, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (Act 231).

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui; Hawaii Invasive Species Council; Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; East Oahu County Farm Bureau; and five individuals.

Your Committee finds that Act 231 was enacted to provide necessary resources, including the establishment and funding for forty-four agricultural biosecurity positions within the Department, to build local capacity and execute operations to effectively protect the State's fragile environment against invasive species on multiple fronts. This measure provides critical funding to ensure that the Department has the necessary personnel to conduct inspections, enforce quarantine regulations, and implement pest management programs. According to testimony received by your Committee, a well-staffed biosecurity team improves the State's ability to detect and mitigate threats before they cause irreversible harm to Hawaii's farms and ecosystems.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language to include unspecified funding for the following biosecurity programs within the Department: Risk Assessment, Pest Management Systems Approach, Brown Tree Snake Rapid Response, Pest Diagnostics, Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response, Green Waste, Compost Reimbursement, Public Awareness Campaign, Little Fire Ants Response, Coqui Frog Response, Invasive Species Outreach, Tech Upgrades, Import Replacement Fund, Biosecurity Facility Planning, Rose-Ringed Parakeet, and Two-Lined Spittlebug;

(2) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider inserting an appropriation of $19,797,868 to fund the forty-four full-time equivalent (44.0 FTE) permanent agricultural biosecurity positions established pursuant to Act 231.

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. 1187, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1187, S.D. 1, 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