STAND. COM. REP. NO. 16

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 251

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. 251 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INVASIVE SPECIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Agriculture to adopt rules and implement an Invasive Species Placard Program for plant nurseries; and

(2) Allow the counties to adopt an Invasive Species Placard Program if the Department does not implement the Program by an unspecified date.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Oʻahu Invasive Species Committee, Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, and nineteen individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council, and Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau.

Your Committee finds that the nursery trade is one of the primary pathways through which invasive pests are spread around the State. Your Committee notes that existing law does not expressly prohibit the sale of nursery stock or other material that is infested with an invasive pest. According to testimony received by your Committee, the placard system proposed in this measure follows the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point model used in Australia and New Zealand to prevent or address priority pests and is the best available way to ensure that local nurseries have, and use, the most current pest information and relevant best management practices related to invasive species. This measure seeks to encourage responsible and proactive prevention and control by local nurseries, facilitate interventions by the Department of Agriculture to prevent and address infestations, and allow consumers to make better informed decisions about the risks of purchasing and transporting infested plants or other nursery stock.

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. 251 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture and Environment,

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MIKE GABBARD, Chair