STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1227

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 160

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Higher Education and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 160 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THAT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I PROVIDE INFORMATION TO THE LEGISLATURE ON POSSIBLE TECHNIQUES TO ELIMINATE MOSQUITOS FROM HAWAII,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request that the University of Hawaii investigate mosquito elimination techniques, the estimated cost of establishing a statewide mosquito eradication program, and the expected environmental impacts of such a program.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Pest Control Association, Conservation Council for Hawaii, and four individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the University of Hawaii System, Department of Land and Natural Resources, and two individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that mosquitos are not native to Hawaii and were introduced to the State in the late 1800s.  Your Committees further find that mosquitos are a threat to human health, and without sufficient eradication efforts mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever and zika virus, are likely to become established in Hawaii.  Your Committees additionally find that the continued survival of the State's native forest birds also requires mosquito control and elimination.

 

     Your Committees recognize that a Statewide Mosquito Working Group exists and is facilitated by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and that multiple units of the University of Hawaii and other state agencies are invested in mosquito eradication research and efforts.  Additionally, your Committees note that mosquito elimination techniques can be tailored, to the extent possible, to target strains of mosquitos that pose threats to human health and native animals.

 

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting language about specific mosquito eradication techniques and making references to mosquito elimination techniques more general;

 

     (2)  Inserting a provision indicating that the Department of Land and Natural Resources currently facilitates a Statewide Mosquito Working Group comprised of state and federal agencies and institutions that contribute to mosquito surveillance, control, and research;

 

     (3)  Inserting language to request that the University of Hawaii collaborate with the Department of Land and Natural Resources to study mosquito elimination rather than the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management at the University of Hawaii at Hilo;

 

     (4)  Inserting language to include consideration of organic methods of mosquito control; and

 

     (5)  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 Higher Education and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 160, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 160, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

________________________________

KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair