Report Title:

Invasive Plant and Animal Species Strike Force

 

Description:

Establishes the invasive plant and animal species early warning and rapid response strike force; appropriates $540,000, including 4.00 FTE positions for Maui and 8.00 FTE positions for Hawaii to contain, control, and eradicate Caribbean frogs and miconia; appropriates $600,000 from airport revenue fund for screening at state airports. (SD1)

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

817

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to invasive plant and animal species.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds many of Hawaii's flora and fauna are both rare and unique to our islands, comprising one of the most beautiful and irreplaceable natural environments in all the world. The geographical isolation that has allowed Hawaii's ecosystem to thrive also makes for a fragile web of indigenous and endemic life, and any introduced species can easily cause irreparable harm. Animals such as rats and mongooses have reproduced at an astonishing rate due to the almost total lack of predators, and once foreign disease-spreading pests such as mosquitoes are now rampant since their introduction. The effects of these and other organisms have been devastating to local plants and animals, especially native birds, with many populations completely wiped out in recent years.

The purpose of this Act is to establish the invasive plant and animal species early warning and rapid response strike force to respond to environmental threats to the State.

SECTION 2. There is established in the department of land and natural resources, the invasive plant and animal species early warning and rapid response strike force. The goal of the strike force shall be to:

(1) Detect environmental changes and human activities that create conditions of vulnerability which can lead to the initial introduction and subsequent establishment of invasive plant and animal species;

(2) Identify the most effective interventions for reducing these vulnerabilities and, when necessary, initiate actions to rapidly contain, control, and eradicate new introductions of invasive plant and animal species; and

(3) Monitor environmental changes and human activities that re-create conditions of vulnerability which can lead to the reintroduction or reestablishment of invasive plant and animal species.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $540,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, and the sum of $540,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003, to establish the invasive plant and animal species early warning and rapid response strike force, including four full-time equivalent (4.00 FTE) positions for the island of Maui and eight full-time equivalent (8.00 FTE) positions for the island of Hawaii first, to contain, control, and eradicate Caribbean frogs, and second, to contain, control, and eradicate miconia.

SECTION 4. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of land and natural resources for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. There is appropriated out of the airport revenue fund the sum of $600,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, for screening of invasive plant and animal species at airports statewide, which service out-of-state flights.

SECTION 6. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of agriculture for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.