STAND. COM. REP. NO. 415

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 29

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 29 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PESTICIDES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish buffer zones against pesticide use around sensitive areas.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Kauai Joint Fact Finding Group; Green Party of Hawaii; Democratic Party of Hawaii; Hawaii Island School Garden Network; League of Women Voters of Hawaii; Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii; SHAKA Movement; SAFE Action Fund; Pesticide Action Network North America; Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action; Western Plant Health Association; Ohana o Kauai; EcoTipping Points Project; Hawaii Center for Food Safety; Hawaii Nurses Association, OPEIU Local 50; Americans for Democratic Action; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii; Education Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii; Sustainable Action for Environment; We Are One, Inc.; and three hundred eighty-one individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association; Hawaii Farm Bureau; CropLife America; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; DuPont Pioneer; Ponoholo Ranch, Limited; Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.; and one hundred thirty-three individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture and three individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that many residents in the State are very concerned about the long-term health effects and potential impacts of pesticide drift, especially as the number of large-scale, outdoor, commercial agricultural operations in the State continues to increase.  Your Committee supports efforts to increase common sense regulation of pesticide use in the State and is aware that pesticide use is necessary for the modern-day farmer to keep pests at bay.  Your Committee does not wish to impede farmers who are working hard to increase local food production; however, your Committee believes that protecting Hawaii's youth and seniors in highly sensitive areas, like schools, hospitals, day care facilities, and nursing homes, from the potential negative effects of long-term pesticide exposure and protecting streams from possible pesticide run-off are of the utmost importance.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Requiring that, within 18 months of the effective date, the Department of Agriculture, based on input from the Advisory Committee on Pesticides, adopts rules that determine the amounts, distances, and wind speeds relating to pesticide use and buffer zones that are currently blank in this measure; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     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. 29, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 29, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health and Judiciary and Labor.

 


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

 

 

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair