STAND. COM. REP. NO. 385-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1832

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems, to which was referred H.B. No. 1832 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AQUACULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a biological aquatic risk-based framework for the assessment and approval of aquatic livestock importation and movement;

(2) Establish an Interagency Working Group to assist in implementing the framework between agencies; and

(3) Appropriate funds for the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity's Division of Animal Industry to:

(A) Implement framework-based permitting operations;

(B) Conduct annual framework updates;

(D) Maintain interagency coordination activities.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; Hawaiʻi Food+ Policy; Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species; and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Aquaculture and Aquaponics Association.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii's aquaculture industry plays an essential role in ensuring food security, promoting rural economic development, and practicing environmental stewardship. Restorative aquaculture techniques yield tangible benefits for the State, such as enhanced water quality, carbon sequestration, and recovery of native species.

Your Committee recognizes that the importation and movement of aquatic livestock within the State present verified biosecurity risks, including the potential establishment of feral populations, introduction of new pathogens affecting endemic species, and disease transmission to wild stocks and adjacent aquaculture operations. The existing regulatory frameworks for assessing aquatic livestock are distributed across multiple agencies with overlapping and, at times, conflicting jurisdictions. This fragmentation leads to permitting delays, regulatory uncertainty, and inadequate risk-based prioritization.

Your Committee notes that international best practices and federal standards utilize biological aquatic risk-based frameworks, categorizing species based on the likelihood and impact of establishment, which enables efficient permitting while maintaining robust biosecurity measures. Your Committee believes that a similarly coordinated, science-driven framework for aquatic livestock assessment that incorporates risk-based categorization, biocontainment standards, pre-arrival disease testing, and interagency cooperation will facilitate responsible aquaculture expansion and safeguard Hawaii's unique endemic species and wild populations.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Interagency Working Group to submit its annual report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session;

(2) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $2,000,000 for the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity's Division of Animal Industry.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1832, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1832, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems,

____________________________

CORY CHUN, Chair