REPORT TITLE:
Plant Pests


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds for research to control plant pests.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           231
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO CONTROL PLANT PESTS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Hawaii is continually threatened by the
 
 2 introduction of new plant species.  Due to a long history of
 
 3 isolation, Hawaii's native plants have not developed many of the
 
 4 natural defenses needed to compete successfully with introduced
 
 5 plants.
 
 6      For example, ivy gourd is a noxious plant pest in Hawaii
 
 7 which has become a serious competitor in lowland areas of Oahu
 
 8 and the Kona district on the Big Island.  It overgrows low-
 
 9 growing vegetation, climbs walls, fences, and utility poles.  Its
 
10 fruits serve as hosts for the development of undesirable insects.
 
11      Other examples include two species of melastomes, Miconia
 
12 and cane Tibouchina, which have spread to all of the major
 
13 Hawaiian islands.  They threaten future watershed management
 
14 areas and native forest ecosystems.  These melastomes have also
 
15 encroached into pasture areas, requiring additional costs to
 
16 control them.  As an example of its destructive powers, Miconia
 
17 has already replaced eighty per cent of the canopy of the natural
 
18 forest in Tahiti.
 
19      Successful efforts have been made in the past to control
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           231
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 certain other plant pests biologically using beneficial insects
 
 2 and plant pathogens such as fungus.  Biological controls are
 
 3 often much superior to the use of herbicides.
 
 4      The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds for research
 
 5 to develop biological controls for plant pests such as ivy gourd
 
 6 and melastomes.
 
 7      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
 8 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $        , or so much
 
 9 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999-2000, and the
 
10 sum of $       , or so much thereof as may be necessary for
 
11 fiscal year 2000-2001, for the control of plant pests.
 
12      SECTION 3.  The sums appropriated shall be expended by the
 
13 department of agriculture for the purposes of this Act.
 
14      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.
 
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16                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________