STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2568

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3365

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 3365 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PLANT CARE COMPONENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Agriculture to certify treatments performed in the State on soil, dirt, wood chips, compost, and filter socks;

(2) Allow the Department of Agriculture to certify and permit entities to treat plant care components;

(3) Authorize the Department of Agriculture to establish fees for treating plant care components;

(4) Prohibit the distribution of plant care components unless the components have been treated immediately after entering the State, by the State or a certified entity; and

(5) Prohibit the transportation of plant care components without prior certification from the Department of Agriculture that the components have been treated.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture.

Your Committee finds that the entry and establishment of a new, devastating pest or disease in the State is an ever-present reality, given the increase and expansion of global trade and travel. Your Committee further finds that properly treating plant care components, such as compost and wood chips, before it is distributed or transported within and from the State would help prevent invasive species from entering and spreading throughout the State. This measure will provide the Department of Agriculture with another way to further protect the fragile environment of the State's island communities against invasive species.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the Department of Agriculture may certify and permits plant care component treatments prior to shipment;

(2) Deleting language that would have allowed the Department to establish fees for plant care component treatments;

(3) Clarifying the authority for the Department's fee schedule for plant care component treatments;

(4) Clarifying that no person shall distribute within the State any plant care component that originated from outside the State, unless the component has been treated prior to entry, as certified by the Department of Agriculture;

(5) Adding language that requires any plant care component that originated from outside the State and has not been treated prior to entry be placed in quarantine until treated and released for entry into the State;

(6) Adding language that requires a treated plant care component be stored in a manner to prohibit infestation post-treatment;

(7) Deleting soil and dirt from the definition of "plant care component";

(8) Adding a definition of "filter sock"; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3365, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3365, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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MIKE GABBARD, Chair