Hawaiʻi's Agriculture Department is asking state lawmakers for an additional $28 million in general funds over the next two years. Most of the money will go towards supporting its biosecurity efforts.
The governor’s proposed budget for the next biennium would allocate $73.4 million to the state Department of Agriculture and $71.5 million for its operating budget over the next two fiscal years, respectively.
Most of the increase the department is asking for would go toward funding a biosecurity bill that state lawmakers passed last year. That includes efforts to manage invasive species, with the little fire ant and coconut rhinoceros beetle top of mind, and funding for 44 biosecurity-related positions.
Invasive species management is still the DOA's leading issue coming into the new session — which starts Jan. 15.
“If you wanted to ask me what is the most important within that package, it's what the public wants, and that’s CRB and LFA. If you were to talk to some people about the importance of the coconut to their life, you would cry. They rely on the coconut for food, and that makes it very, very important,” said DOA Chair Sharon Hurd. “So those are the ones we're focusing on. … The ones that are affecting the public, the lifestyle, the quality of life of our people.”
During the last legislative session, the agriculture department was given $10 million to tackle invasive species in what advocates called a “landmark” biosecurity bill.
Lawmakers gave the department $20 million, but Green slashed it in half at the end of the session. Some of the funding requests this year would help fill in the bill's gaps.
The additional $28 million the agriculture department is asking for is the most the department has asked for in the Gov. Josh Green administration, Hurd said.
But even if it gets all of what it asked for, the DOA's operating budget would still be 0.4% of the state's overall operating budget. Farming stakeholders and those who want to ramp up invasive species management have advocated for a great budget for the DOA.
