STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1436

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 41

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 41 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING EACH COUNTY TO ESTABLISH ITS OWN BIOSECURITY PLAN THAT PRIORITIZES THE NEEDS OF THE COUNTY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to encourage each county to:

(1) Establish its own biosecurity plan that prioritizes the needs of the county;

(2) Collaborate with other counties with the State, including the Department of Agriculture and Hawaii Invasive Species Council, in developing its biosecurity plan; and

(3) Share its findings and biosecurity plan with the State, including the Department of Agriculture and Hawaii Invasive Species Council.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaii Invasive Species Council, and Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species.

Your Committees find that each Hawaiian island faces unique biosecurity challenges, necessitating a localized approach to biosecurity planning and response. Your Committees further find that the statewide Hawaii Interagency Biosecurity Plan ends in 2027, making the need for additional biosecurity planning even more urgent. According to testimony received by your Committees, counties are completely preempted by state law from banning or regulating the movement of pests or other invasive species or material infested with a pest or invasive species, and that a comprehensive county-level biosecurity plan could assist the State in targeting resources to the highest impact programs and help counties fill gaps in addressing their biosecurity needs that are not otherwise preempted.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language requesting each county biosecurity plan to identify proposals for legislative changes at the state and county levels to promote biosecurity; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 41, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 41, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair