As measures to manage pests continue to move through this legislative session, state officials are urging lawmakers to provide the necessary resources to carry out the directives.
On Tuesday, the House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems moved along a host of measures that just crossed over from the Senate, including several that aim to reduce the spread of invasive species.
Regulating plant nurseries
Senate Bill 562 would establish a registry program for plant nurseries. Those businesses would have to be licensed with the state Department of Agriculture and be inspected regularly.
Material moved to and from nurseries is known to carry pests like coconut rhinoceros beetles and little fire ants — ongoing issues in many parts of the state.
The movement of the bill, which generally received supportive testimony, prompted the Agriculture Department to remind lawmakers about the resources and staffing required.
“I'm of the belief that regulations should be enacted with commensurate resources to ensure that the regulations are actually being effectuated,” said Jonathan Ho, acting manager for the department’s Plant Quarantine Branch.
He said the measure could require regular inspections of some 1,200 nurseries statewide, which he said is around 10 times more than what the department already works with under an existing program.
“Should that be done? I don't disagree with it, because those are critical control points. If you can manage the nursery trade, or actually any other trade that's a critical control point, to the extent that you can manage spread, that's great for everyone. But we don't have the resources for it,” he said.
Expanded inspection capabilities
Written testimony from the department was similar for Senate Bill 252, which would let agriculture inspectors check any item brought to Hawaiʻi from another domestic port for pests.
Currently, they can only inspect agricultural commodities, but advocates worry potential invasive species — such as the aggressive red imported fire ant — can hitchhike on other things.
In a written testimony, the DOA asked for a “significant financial investment” to ensure it can manage the extra workload. That includes consistent funding, proper staffing, equipment, training and additional policies.
But supporters highlighted the need for the bill
The Big Island Invasive Species Committee, in a written testimony, said a Kona business recently received a shipment from Washington state that was infested with spiders that aren’t known to be in Hawaiʻi. It said they were likely giant house spiders.
“The lack of authority by any agency to inspect non-agricultural imports coming from domestic ports is a huge gap in our biosecurity,” BIISC said in its testimony, adding, “While there is no guarantee that this container would have been inspected at the port under this proposed authority, currently there is no opportunity at all for any agency to be able to potentially catch a new potential invasive species if the commodity being transported is non-agricultural.”
Both measures passed out of Tuesday's committee hearing.
Less than 0.5% of the state's overall operating budget goes to the DOA. State lawmakers, the department, advocates for invasive species management and farming are pushing for more state money to be funneled to the department.
