STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2621

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2488

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2488 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII INVASIVE SPECIES COUNCIL,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the position of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council Executive Director;

(2) Appropriate funds to the Department of Land and Natural Resources, rather than the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, for the Hawaii Invasive Species Council for fiscal year 2026-2027; and

(3) Require a report to the Legislature.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Department of Land and Natural Resources; Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species; Hawaiʻi Food+ Policy; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; Free Access Coalition; Oʻahu Invasive Species Committee; Kupuna for the Moʻopuna; and sixteen individuals.

Your Committees find that the Hawaii Invasive Species Council (HISC) plays a critical role as a cross-jurisdictional organization that coordinates, supports, and funds research while directing invasive species control activities. Act 236, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, transfers HISC from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity. However, HISC will remain administratively attached to the Department of Land and Natural Resources until January 2030. This measure will transfer funds appropriated to the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to the Department of Land and Natural Resources and establish the position of Hawaii Invasive Species Council Executive Director to ensure that HISC may continue to execute essential invasive species prevention and response programs amidst its restructuring.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, 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. 2488, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2488, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair