Senate committees rewrite HB 427 to fold in SB 1100: rename HDOA and add biosecurity authority, facilities, and funding requests

The Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, together with Agriculture, Environment, and Transportation committees, moved to substantially amend House Bill 427, House Draft 2, by inserting the contents of SB 1100, SD2. The revised package renames the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, renames the Board of Agriculture accordingly, establishes a deputy director of biosecurity, and authorizes a biosecurity emergency declaration with specified powers to prevent establishment or spread of pests and restricted organisms.

Committee chairs recommended three principal actions: (1) replace HB 427 HD2 contents with SB 1100 SD2; (2) insert general fund appropriations (blank amounts in the hearing record) for construction at the Halawa bird/biological quarantine station and the Halawa animal industry facility; and (3) adopt language proposed by the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species (CGAPS) during the SB 1100 hearings. Chairs and several testifying organizations (Hawaii Invasive Species Council, CGAPS, Hawaii Farm Bureau) expressed support for elevating biosecurity and broadening board membership qualifications to include biosecurity expertise.

Witnesses urged stronger statutory quarantine authority to allow the department to act quickly (for example, quarantines at resorts, apartment complexes, and other sites not covered by current administrative rules) and recommended that two board members possess biosecurity expertise. CGAPS asked the committees to restore quarantine authority the department had suggested removing; the department had argued the authority was duplicative of its administrative rules, but CGAPS noted the statutory gap where administrative rules only apply to locations that sell directly to the public.

Committee discussion also covered operational questions (land transfers, use of existing lessees for invasive species management, and hiring challenges). Committee members asked DLNR and HDOA to follow up on transfers of lands and to provide status updates on the 44 positions authorized previously for biosecurity work (Act 231) and recruitment/filling difficulties.

The committees voted to pass the measure with amendments that incorporate SB 1100 SD2 content, request appropriations for Halawa facilities, and adopt CGAPS-recommended language. Chairs also suggested including a committee-report note that biosecurity may need to be elevated further, potentially to cabinet level.