STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2898

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2911

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2911 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE SNAILS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to designate certain snail species as official state snails.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, Le Jardin Academy Kāhuli Hui, and thirty-three individuals.

Your Committees find that land snails are among the most threatened of all animal groups in the world, with more recorded extinctions than birds and mammals combined. Your Committees further find that in 2023, the Bishop Museum organized a statewide voting campaign where students and community members chose which snail species to recommend to the Legislature to be designated as the official state snail for each island. This measure will increase awareness of the imperiled status and cultural and ecological relevance of Hawaiian land snails, preserve their cultural and ecological significance, and encourage continued conservation of Native Hawaiian invertebrates by designating official state snails.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2911 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair