STAND. COM. REP. NO 386

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1062

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Agriculture, Energy and Environment, and Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 1062 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BIOSECURITY PROGRAM,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the biosecurity program as the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture, rather than a branch of the Department of Agriculture, to enable the program to address biosecurity issues across the entire department.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, Nature Conservancy, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that biosecurity is an overarching issue that requires cooperation and collaboration by numerous parties in order to be addressed properly and to ensure the protection of our environment, community, and local agriculture.  The Department of Agriculture has multiple duties and activities that address the issue of biosecurity; however, initiatives to improve Hawaii biosecurity go beyond the confines of any one branch within the department, often including other groups inside and outside of state government.  Your Committees further find that the Hawaii Invasive Species Council, Department of Land and Natural Resources, United States Department of Agriculture, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, and private companies that utilize best management practices when transporting products and equipment throughout the State, as well as many other groups, all positively contribute to Hawaii's biosecurity efforts.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting a definition section into the new part in section 2; and

     (2)  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, Energy and Environment, and Transportation that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1062, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1062, 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, Energy and Environment, and Transportation,

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

____________________________

RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair

 

 

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair