STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2906

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1931

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Agriculture, Higher Education, and Energy and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 1931, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Agriculture and the University of Hawaii to research and develop methods for the prevention and treatment of macadamia felted coccid.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company; Big Island Invasive Species Committee; Hawaii Macadamia Nut Association; ILWU Local 142; Island Princess; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation; Royal Hawaiian Orchards, LP; Edmund C. Olson Trust II; MacFarms of Hawaii, LLC; Royal Hawaiian Services, LP; and ten individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that macadamia nuts are one of the top-grossing crops grown in Hawaii, providing hundreds of local jobs, supporting numerous local businesses, encouraging tourism, and promoting diversified agriculture.  The macadamia felted coccid, found in Hawaii in 2005, has the potential to devastate the macadamia nut industry and Hawaii's agricultural economy.  The macadamia felted coccid is just as much a threat to the macadamia nut industry as is the coffee berry borer to the coffee industry and must therefore be contained and controlled to sustain Hawaii's precious macadamia nut industry.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting an appropriation amount of $360,000 for the Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, to research and develop methods for the prevention and treatment of macadamia felted coccid;

 

     (2)  Inserting an appropriation amount of $735,000 for the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, to research and develop methods for the prevention and treatment of macadamia felted coccid;

 

     (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.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture, Higher Education, and Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1931, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1931, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture, Higher Education, and Energy and Environment,

 

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

 

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

 

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair