STAND. COM. REP. NO.  835-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 1514

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1514 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure, as received by your Committee, is to appropriate moneys for the control of and mitigation of damages by the coffee berry borer.

     For the purposes of a public hearing on this bill, your Committee circulated Proposed H.B. No. 1514, H.D.1 (Proposed Draft) and notified the public that it would be accepting testimony on the Proposed Draft, which:

(1)  Appropriates moneys for mitigation of and education relating to the coffee berry borer; and

(2)  Establishes a pesticide subsidy program for the purchase of pesticides containing Beauvaria bassiana to combat the coffee berry borer.

The Department of Agriculture, University of Hawai‘i System, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, Hawaii Farmers Union United, Hawaii Coffee Growers Association, Maui Coffee Association, Hawaii Coffee Association, Kona Coffee Farmers Association, Kona Coffee Council, Royal Kona Coffee Visitor Center Mill & Museum, Kona Joe Coffee, Kanalani Ohana Farm, Kau Farms Management, Edmund C. Olson Trust II, Farm Lovers Farmers Markets, and a concerned individual supported the Proposed Draft.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources provided comments on the Proposed Draft.

     Your Committee considered the merits of both H.B. No. 1514, as received by your Committee, and the Proposed Draft, and upon careful consideration, adopted the Proposed Draft with the following amendments:

(1)  Making the appropriation in an unspecified amount;

(2)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2030, to facilitate discussion;

(3)  Changing the lapsing date in section 3 to June 30, 2016; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1514, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1514, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair