SB562

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that, according to the 2020 United States Department of Agriculture's Summary of Horticulture and Nursery Products, Hawaii's nursery industry is worth more than $81,000,000 in local and export sales. Invasive species, including the coconut rhinoceros beetle, little fire ant, and coqui frog, and viruses and pathogens that affect plant life can hamper the productivity, profitability, and prospects of local plant nursery businesses.

The legislature further finds that the National Plant Board has recognized plant nurseries as major pathways for the introduction and spread of pests and diseases and has provided a model nursery law with draft language that is sensible for nurseries, regulatory officials, and the public. While most nurseries employ best management practices to protect their stock from high-priority pests, others do not. Consequently, the legislature finds that regulation is necessary to protect the many from the few.

The legislature further finds that a program requiring plant nurseries to register with the department of agriculture and prohibiting the sale of pest-infested plants and other items is a common sense approach to protect consumers, agricultural producers, the general public, and the environment.

The legislature notes that other states require that plant nurseries be regularly inspected and licensed or certified, including Alabama, which requires an annual inspection certificate for certain sellers of nursery stock. Maryland and Massachusetts also require that nurseries or places where nursery stock is grown, be inspected and certified annually. These states require that certain fees be paid, based on the size of the nursery, to obtain the necessary credentials. Many other states, including Delaware, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, and Rhode Island, have similar programs.

The legislature also finds that the department of agriculture's existing nursery inspection program established in part III of chapter 150A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to Nursery Stock Export Shipments, and the administrative rules to carry out that part, were last updated in 1981 and are focused on certifications required to export plants from Hawaii to other states. The existing requirements are therefore not a comprehensive program to protect consumers in Hawaii from inadvertently purchasing plants infested with pests.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to establish a plant nursery registration program to prevent the spread of pests within the State.

SECTION 2. Chapter 150A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read:

"Part . Plant Nursery Registration Program

§150A-A Definitions. As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise:

"Best management practices" means processes and actions based on the best available science that provide the most cost‑effective and efficacious way to address an issue, including the prevention or reduction of pest and plant disease or pathogen problems.

"Effective control" means, when referring to non-quarantine pests, eliminating or reducing a pest to the point of an acceptable economic and environmental risk.

"High-priority pest" means a pest, including a plant disease, that poses potential negative impacts to the economy, the environment, or human wealth or welfare to an area in which the pest currently:

(1) Is not known to occur; or

(2) Has a limited distribution or is being officially controlled.

The department may designate different high-priority pests for different islands in the State.

"Non-quarantine pest" means a pest, including a plant disease, that is not designated as a high-priority pest with respect to an island and that, if under effective control, does not pose an unacceptable economic or environmental risk. The department may designate different non-quarantine pests for different islands in the State.

"Nursery stock" means any plant for planting, propagation, or ornamentation (including plants used to produce cut flowers), including all plants, trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, grafts, cuttings, and buds that may be sold for propagation, whether cultivated or wild, and all viable parts of these plants.

"Sale" or "sell" means offering, exposing, or possessing for sale, exchange, barter, or trade.

"Standards of nursery cleanliness", with respect to a location where nursery stock is produced, sold, stored, or distributed, means:

(1) The implementation at the location of any method of treatment required by the department for any pest;

(2) That nursery stock or other material infested or infected with a high-priority pest at that location is isolated pending treatment or destruction;

(3) That actions are carried out to the extent that is reasonably necessary to ensure that non-quarantine pests at that location are under effective control; and

(4) The fulfillment of any other standard to prevent the spread of pests at or from the location, as required by the department for that location.

§150A-B Nursery registration. (a) Any person directly engaged with the production or sale of nursery stock, including any person that produces or sells nursery stock as part of a commercial landscaping business, shall register with the department using an online registration form developed by the department, which shall also be made available in paper form, before initiating business operations; provided that any person directly engaged in the production or sale of nursery stock before or on the effective date of this Act shall register with the department no later than one year from the effective date of this Act.

(b) A person shall renew their nursery registration each year.

(c) The department may exempt from the nursery registration requirement any person whose business consists only of retail sales to the ultimate consumer; provided that the total sales of nursery stock does not exceed $2,500 during a year.

(d) A person shall register, pursuant to subsection (a), each location where the person produces, sells, or regularly stores or distributes nursery stock.

(e) No person shall be eligible for any certificate or service under part III unless the person makes a registration required by subsection (a).

(f) The department shall publish on its website and other appropriate platforms a list of the locations that are registered under this section.

§150A-C Certification. Each person making a registration for a location pursuant to section 150A-B shall certify to the department that the person:

(1) Shall not sell at the location any plant taxa designated by the department as:

(A) A restricted plant in violation of the department's sale restriction on that taxa; or

(B) A noxious weed;

(2) Shall maintain the location, including nursery stock and all other materials, to be free from high-priority pests and document in a log book the dates that actions were taken to ensure that the location is free of high-priority pests, including a description of those actions;

(3) Shall report to the department any new occurrence of a high-priority pest;

(4) Shall not sell or distribute nursery stock that is infested or infected with a high-priority pest or non‑quarantine pest;

(5) Shall utilize best management practices to maintain effective control of non-quarantine pests;

(6) Shall report to the department any occurrence of a taxa, including a plant disease, that is not known to occur in the State;

(7) Shall implement standards of nursery cleanliness at the location;

(8) Shall implement any best management practices required by the department for the location; and

(9) Consents to, and agrees to cooperate with, inspections by the department during reasonable business hours to ensure that the person is in compliance with the certification required by this section.

§150A-D Nursery registration fee. (a) The department may charge a fee for registration under this part.

(b) Any fees collected under this section shall be paid to the department and deposited into the pest inspection, quarantine, and eradication fund under section 150A-4.5.

§150A-E Inspection; quarantine; remedial measures; contested cases. (a) The department may administratively inspect, with or without notice during reasonable business hours, a location registered by a person pursuant to section 150A-B, including all nursery stock and other materials at the location.

(b) The department may:

(1) Conduct inspections pursuant to subsection (a) in response to a complaint alleging the presence of high‑priority pests or failure to maintain effective control of non-quarantine pests; and

(2) Prioritize and conduct more frequent inspections pursuant to subsection (a) based on its assessment of the location's history of compliance with this part and the location's potential for spreading high‑priority pests or non-quarantine pests.

(c) If the department, after an inspection authorized under this section or by any other means, finds that a high‑priority pest is present in nursery stock or any other material at a location where nursery stock is present, that non‑quarantine pests are not under effective control at the location, or that the person who has registered the location pursuant to section 150A-B is otherwise not in compliance with a certification made under section 150A-C, the department may:

(1) Require the implementation of specific best management practices or other actions, including treatment;

(2) Issue a quarantine order for the affected nursery stock, other material, or location and, if appropriate, a treatment or destruction order for affected nursery stock or material; and

(3) Require the affected nursery stock or material to be mitigated by whatever means necessary, including destruction, confiscation, treatment, return shipment, or quarantine, at the expense of the person who registered the location, without any form of compensation from the department or State.

(d) During the period that an order issued pursuant to subsection (c) is in effect for nursery stock, other material, or a location, no person shall sell, ship, transport, give away, or otherwise move, alter, or tamper with affected nursery stock or material at the location, other than for activities to mitigate any high-priority pest or other pest or to otherwise comply with the order.

(e) If the department issues an order pursuant to subsection (c) for nursery stock, other material, or a location, the department shall provide, in writing, to the owner, operator, or person in charge:

(1) Notice that the order has been issued, including a description of the specific nursery stock, other material, or a location that is covered by the order;

(2) A description of the specific reasons for the issuance of the order and the actions required to comply with the order; and

(3) Notice that the owner, operator, or person in charge may request a subsequent inspection to lift the order; provided that, after the inspection, the department determines that the violation that caused the department to issue the order has been corrected.

(f) A person affected by the department's actions under this section may initiate a contested case with the department by submitting to the department a written request for a hearing within thirty days of the date that the department issued the order or notice.

§150A-F Nursery program designation of high-priority pests and non-quarantine pests. (a) Without regard to the notice and public hearing requirements of chapter 91, the board, by order, may designate, and un-designate, taxa as high-priority pests and non-quarantine pests for each island.

(b) The board may adopt additions to, or deletions from, the list of taxa designated as high-priority pests or non-quarantine pests by order only if the department, thirty days or more before the effective date of the order, issues a press release, posts the press release on the department's website, and provides by mail or electronic mail notices to each person who has made a timely written request to the department for advance notice of the order or the department's rulemaking proceedings.

(1) A statement summarizing the substance of the proposed order, including taxa being added to or deleted from the lists of high-priority pests or non-quarantine pests for each island;

(2) A statement that a copy of the proposed order and the proposed exact changes shall be mailed to any interested person who requests a copy upon payment in advance of costs for photocopying, preparing, and mailing the copy;

(3) A statement as to where to obtain a copy of the proposed order online or in-person for inspection, or for pick-up after payment in full of any costs for photocopying; and

(4) A statement that the department is soliciting comments regarding the proposed order during the next thirty days, where comments may be forwarded to, and where and when the proposed order is scheduled to be discussed.

(d) The department may request the advisory committee on plants and animals to advise the board on the proposed order in a noticed, public meeting.

(e) The board shall consider the proposed order and all oral and written comments on the proposed order.

(f) Upon approval by the board at a noticed, public meeting, the order to adopt additions to or deletions from the lists of high-priority pests and non-quarantine pests for each island shall take effect ten days after the department gives public notice of the order on its website and in a daily or weekly publication of statewide circulation or in separate daily or weekly publications whose combined circulation is statewide.

§150A-G Economic loss or damage. The State shall not be liable for any economic loss or damages, including loss of income, related to any actions taken by the department pursuant to this part or any rules adopted under this part. Actions include the issuance of treatment, quarantine, or destruction orders for any item.

§150A-H Civil penalties. (a) Any person who violates a provision of this part or any rule adopted by the department pursuant to this part shall be fined not more than $ for each separate offense. Each date of violation shall constitute a separate offense. Any action taken to impose or collect the penalty provided for in this subsection shall be considered a civil action.

(b) All fines collected pursuant to this section shall be paid to the department and deposited into the pest inspection, quarantine, and eradication fund under section 150A-4.5."

2. By adding a new section to part III to be appropriately designated and to read:

"§150A- Nursery registration required. No certification or service related to nursery stock may be provided under this part to any person at a location unless that location is registered pursuant to part ."

SECTION 3. Section 150A-53, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§150A-53 General actions to achieve objectives. (a) To achieve the objectives of the biosecurity program, the department shall plan for and, within available legislative appropriations or through funding from other sources, implement the following:

(1) Work with government agencies and agricultural commodity exporters of other states and countries to establish pre-entry inspection programs under which inbound cargo into the State is inspected at the ports of departure or other points outside the State;

(2) Establish, operate, or participate in operating port-of-entry facilities where multiple government agencies may inspect, quarantine, fumigate, disinfect, destroy, or exclude as appropriate, articles that may harbor pests or exclude articles that are prohibited or restricted without a permit, with the goals of:

(A) Performing inspections in an efficient, effective, and expeditious manner for the government agencies involved and for cargo owners, carriers, and importers; and

(B) Providing for the proper and safe storage and handling of cargo, especially agricultural and food commodities, awaiting inspection;

(3) Develop, implement, and coordinate post-entry measures to eradicate, control, reduce, and suppress pests and, as appropriate, eradicate or seize and dispose of prohibited or restricted organisms without a permit that have entered the State;

(4) Collaborate with relevant government agencies, agricultural commodity importers, and other persons to examine and develop joint integrated systems to better implement the biosecurity program;

(5) Improve cargo inspection capabilities and methods, including enhancement of the content and submission requirements for cargo manifests and agricultural commodity ownership and movement certificates;

(6) Promote the production of agricultural commodities in the State to reduce cargo shipments of imported commodities into the State; and

(7) Provide public education on the negative effects of pests and prohibited or restricted organisms without a permit, to the environment and economy of the State.

(b) The department shall establish parameters and construction requirements for biosecurity facilities that provide for and ensure the safety of agricultural and food commodities consumed by Hawaii residents, including cold storage facilities established by private-public partnerships to preserve the quality and ensure the safety of the commodities arriving at the State's airports and harbors.

(1) Shall be considered to be a part of the biosecurity program; and

(2) May be administered by and enforced using the officials and funds available to the biosecurity program."

SECTION 4. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

SECTION 5. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	562
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII