STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1327

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 306

H.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 306, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ORNAMENTAL GINGER,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for statewide research through the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources into ornamental ginger pathogens, the prevention of the spread of ornamental ginger pathogens, the production and distribution of pathogen-free ornamental ginger plants, and outreach to ornamental ginger producers.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, University of Hawai‘i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Maui County Farm Bureau, Land Use Research Foundation, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association, East Oahu County Farm Bureau, and seven individuals.

Your Committees find that commercial production of ornamental ginger has been on a steady decline for years, due to the emergence of several deadly plant viruses and diseases. In 2018, a team of specialists and virologists from the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and Department of Agriculture, identified a combination of six viruses, including two viruses discovered during the survey, which are responsible for the demise of ornamental ginger plants in Hawaii. The viruses were found to be present statewide, but are most prevalent on Oahu and Hawaii island. Your Committees further find that virus-infected plants cannot be cured and that most large-scale growing operations have plants that are virus-infected. Without more research and the implementation of informed prevention strategies through a multi-agency outreach approach, these viruses can spread further and impact the profitability and long-term survivability of the local ornamental and landscape production industries. Therefore, this measure appropriates funds for further research into ornamental ginger viruses, pathogens, and diseases, and potential prevention strategies and production methods for disease-free plants, and provides funds for outreach to inform ornamental ginger growers of any new and valuable disease-related discoveries.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 306, H.D. 2, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair