Senate committees pass bill funding short-term response and staff for coconut rhinoceros beetle control

The Senate Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Committee on Agriculture and the Environment on Monday approved House Bill 643, House Draft 2, to appropriate funds for short-term management and staffing for the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) response program.

The bill would fund technicians and graduate students to support biocontrol research while the state continues planning for a mobile and longer-term biosecure facility needed to rear and test viral and fungal control agents. Sharon Heard, Director, Department of Agriculture, told the committee the department awarded a planning contract and is evaluating a site in Wahiawa; she said the initial planning used about $400,000 of a previously appropriated $600,000 and that buying and retrofitting mobile units could cost roughly $2,000,000 each, with about $3,000,000 estimated to complete two mobile units and installation.

The bill’s proponents told senators early-stage lab work can occur at University of Hawaii labs, but final efficacy and safety testing will require a biosafety-level facility that currently does not exist on-island. Keith Weiser, deputy and commander of the coconut rhinoceros beetle response, said the timetable for field range studies in early 2026 depends on having a biosecure testing facility in place.

Heard said New Zealand researchers have identified a viral strain that shows high efficacy against CRB, but scaling that work and producing viral material requires secure rearing and testing capacity and “millions” in further funding. Senators pressed whether specimens could be sent overseas for testing; Heard said rearing and safe production will require a biosecure facility in-state to scale treatments.

Committee members repeatedly urged the agencies to pursue funding and to avoid duplicative asks; Heard said the budget request before the legislature is focused on staffing and research while facility funding will come after planning and a defined site.

The committee recorded a motion to pass the bill as is. The motion passed in committee with recorded aye votes from the chair, the vice chair, Senator Fukunaga, Senator Hashimoto and Senator Fevella. The measure was also advanced by the Agriculture & Environment committee in a separate roll call. The committee report will accompany the measure to the House for further action.

The discussion highlighted the limits of current treatment options: existing systemic treatments are available for landscape trees but the department has not yet established protocols for food-bearing trees and crops. Committee members and agency witnesses said the department’s current CRB and green-waste funding is advancing planning but that eradication and large-scale deployment of biocontrol agents will require additional appropriations and interagency coordination.

The committee passed the bill without amendment and recorded the formal recommendation to pass the measure "as is."