HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2551
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to agriculture.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that fruit flies are one of the State's most destructive agricultural pests. The economic impacts of fruit fly infestations in Hawaii are severe, leading to millions of dollars in lost agricultural production and revenue to the State. There are several different fruit flies in Hawaii, the first of which arrived in 1895. Since fruit flies have no natural predators in Hawaii, their existence has persisted over the years. The fruit fly federal quarantine, which was enacted when Hawaii was a United States territory, still exists in full effect today due to the presence of fruit flies in the State and their threat to the continental United States' agricultural sector. This quarantine, however, is a major hinderance to the State's expansion of diversified agriculture.

The legislature further finds that in 1999, the United States Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service (ARS) funded a five-year area-wide fruit fly pest management system with the goal to develop and implement environmentally acceptable, biologically based, sustainable pest management strategies that reduce the use of harsher insecticides while suppressing fruit flies to economically manageable levels for the benefit of Hawaii. This program was a cooperative partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture, ARS, college of tropical agriculture and human resilience at the university of Hawaii at Manoa, and department of agriculture and biosecurity. The area-wide fruit fly program used a combined approach of field sanitation, protein bait sprays, and male-lure traps to combat fruit fly infestations. The program successfully lowered infestation rates to below five per cent for many crops, increasing yields and marketable products. The program also significantly reduced insecticide use in some areas.

The legislature also finds that the department of agriculture and biosecurity has contracted with the college of tropical agriculture and human resilience at the university of Hawaii at Manoa to reinitiate the area-wide fruit fly suppression program with funding from Act 231, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024. This initial contract is critical to evaluating the ARS's 1999 protocols, methods, and chemicals, and to update them to meet current needs.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to suppress fruit flies in Hawaii.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 for an area-wide fruit fly suppression program.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of agriculture and biosecurity for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2026.

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression Program, Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds for the Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression Program.

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