STAND. COM. REP. NO.  920

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.R. No. 35

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred H.R. No. 35 entitled:

"HOUSE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO CONDUCT AN AUDIT TO ASSESS CURRENT OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES AT THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE'S ANIMAL QUARANTINE STATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to review Hawaii's laws relating to quarantine facilities by requesting the State Auditor to conduct an audit, in consultation with interested stakeholders, to assess the current operations and procedures at the Department of Agriculture's Animal Quarantine Station and submit a report of findings and recommendations.

The Hawaiian Humane Society, Animal Rights Hawai‘i, and three concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Department of Agriculture provided comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing its title to read:

"REQUESTING A PROGRESS REPORT AND PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ANIMAL QUARANTINE STATION";

     (2)  Deleting the provisions relating to the audit of the Animal Quarantine Station and in place thereof, requesting the Department of Agriculture to submit a status report on its actions and timeline to implement recommendations resulting from an inspection by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture;

     (3)  Making conforming amendments necessitated by the new purpose of the measure; and

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

     Your Committee requests that the Department of Agriculture conduct unannounced inspections of its Animal Quarantine Station, keep statistics on the reasons for placing an animal in quarantine, and provide any other information that may be useful to this Committee in determining whether operational and other changes should be implemented at the Animal Quarantine Station.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 35, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 35, H.D. 1.

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

____________________________

CLIFT TSUJI, Chair