STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1149

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 792

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Energy, Environment, and International Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 792, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to develop guidelines and a marketing plan to obtain export clearances to ship rainbow papayas and other locally-grown agricultural products to Japan and other countries.

Written and oral testimony in support of the measure was received from the Board of Agriculture, the University of Hawaii Center for Genomic, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics Research Initiative, and the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association. Written and oral testimony in support of the intent of the measure, subject to appropriate funding, was given by the Hawaii Agricultural Research Center. Written testimony in support of the measure was received from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Hawaii Farm Bureau, the Big Island Farm Bureau, the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, and the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Six individuals submitted written testimony in opposition to the measure.

Your Committees find that the success of this marketing initiative may be contingent upon an adequate level of funding. However, after discussion with the Chair of the Board of Agriculture and a representative of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association, your Committees are unclear as to whether the Board of Agriculture or the Hawaii Papaya Industry know how much funding will be required for this program. Your Committees suggest that those entities primarily affected by this measure address the financial requirements of this initiative prior to the next hearing.

Your Committees have amended this measure by substituting the language contained S.B. No. 1899, S.D. 1, in place of this measure's current language, as your Committees believe it better addresses concerns raised during the hearing.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy, Environment, and International Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 792, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 792, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy, Environment, and International Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture,

____________________________

RUSSELL S. KOKUBUN, Chair

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J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair