Bill Text: HI SCR172 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requesting The Department Of Agriculture To Expand Quarantine Facilities Administered By The Plant Quarantine Branch.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-04-18 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Ohno, Woodson excused (2). [SCR172 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2022-SCR172-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
172 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
requesting the department of agriculture to EXPAND quarantine facilities administered by the plant quarantine branch.
WHEREAS, mitigating the establishment of newly detected invasive species will save the State and its taxpayers money over the long-term, as mitigation efforts become more protracted and expensive once an invasive species is firmly established; and
WHEREAS, as an island state, Hawai‘i relies on the importation of food, materials, and other resources through its air and seaports, which creates an opportunity for accompanying pests to inadvertently slip through the state-owned detection systems; and
WHEREAS, the Plant Quarantine Branch of the Department of Agriculture is the primary agency tasked with detecting and eliminating threats from invasive species that would otherwise be introduced into the State; and
WHEREAS, in 2020, the coffee leaf rust pathogen was discovered for the first time in the United States within Hawai‘i, which exposed gaps in state mitigative resources, such as plant quarantine facilities and response mechanisms to deal with newly-identified threats and the ability to respond to them appropriately; and
WHEREAS, the State's response to the coffee leaf rust crisis has been predominantly focused on the importation of rust-resistant coffee varieties that must be quarantined for at least one year, unless exempt as determined by the Board of Agriculture under certain conditions; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Agriculture testified on Senate Bill No. 2908 (2022) that it recognizes the importance of having adequate facilities for quarantine purposes and plans to submit a capital improvement project request to improve the Plant Quarantine Branch at the Plant Inspection Office in Honolulu, which would increase its quarantine capacity by fifty percent; and
WHEREAS, existing state-owned plant quarantine facilities lack the capacity to mitigate the demand for disease-resistant stock, as well as adequately respond to newly detected invasive species and prevent the spread of those species within the State; and
WHEREAS, expanding existing state-owned and managed plant quarantine facilities would increase the State's ability to respond to and eliminate threats from invasive species, including coffee leaf rust; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Agriculture is requested to expand plant quarantine facilities administered by the Plant Quarantine Branch; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is requested to submit a report of findings and recommendations relating to the expansion of plant quarantine facilities, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Department of Agriculture; Plant Quarantine Facilities; Invasive Species; Expansion
