Funding for Landmark Biosecurity Bill Slashed In Half
Hawaiʻi Public Radio | By Mark Ladao
Published July 11, 2024 at 3:28 PM HST
Hawaiʻi Department Of Agriculture
The coconut rhinoceros beetle is invasive to Hawaiʻi.
Gov. Josh Green has cut what was once a $20 million biosecurity bill in half, raising some concerns about invasive species management in the state.
Green this week line-item vetoed House Bill 2619, reducing funding to $10 million for the state Department of Agriculture. The cut was meant to compensate for a costly income tax break measure that also passed this year.
But the so-called “landmark” biosecurity bill was supposed to show that the state was serious about slowing the spread of pests like little fire ants, coconut rhinoceros beetles and coqui frogs.
That meant, in part, funding the woefully underfunded and understaffed agriculture department, which spearheads the state’s invasive species efforts.
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“We really need to take action now. We cannot kick the can down the road because, number one, it’ll become exponentially more expensive to deal with these problems after they've spread even further — if it's even possible. And second, this is really the future we are passing on to our children,” said Wayne Tanaka, director of the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi.
The Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi in a news release called the veto “short-sighted,” and said it will “enable continued foot-dragging by the Department of Agriculture at the expense of our families, businesses, economy, culture and environment, potentially for generations to come.”
Lawmakers and conservation groups already have concerns that the department hasn’t moved quickly enough to stop or slow pests from spreading.
The DOA has been criticized for protecting potential “bad actor” nurseries that could be spreading little fire ants, and slowly creating and implementing action plans to respond to several pest species.
The veto cut about $1 million from what was a $2.5 million appropriation for little fire ant response, $860,000 for brown tree snakes, $300,000 for coconut rhinoceros beetles and $200,000 for two-lined spittlebugs.
It also removed $2 million meant for a public awareness campaign, $1.2 million for tech upgrades and $900,000 for a biosecurity facility.
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Rep. Kirstin Kahaloa, the vice chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems, authored the bill but is more optimistic about the future.
Kahaloa said the $10 million is still a lot more than the agriculture department had initially asked for this year, and it managed to keep the 44 biosecurity positions created by the bill intact.
“ I think it's a big win that we were able to retain all the positions and still cut the budget. Is it painful that some of the funding to actually combat invasive species has been removed? Yes, but we can ask for more next session. I still think this is a positive win for biosecurity for our state,” she said.
Many of the positions now have reduced funding, but Kahaloa said that’s because the department opted to stagger some of the positions’ hiring dates for later in the fiscal year.
That allows the positions to stay, but the state gets to reduce the funding allocated to them.
A Legislative Reference Bureau report from 20 years ago said that $50 million is required annually to fully fund the invasive species management in Hawaiʻi — and some estimate that number has doubled since.
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Other lawmakers want to send a reminder that the need to invest in and fight invasive species is still timely.
“If we don't prioritize biosecurity now, we could soon see the collapse of our natural and food ecosystems statewide,” said Sen. Mike Gabbard, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment.
“While we didn’t get all of the funding we wanted, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. The fact that HDOA is on board is awesome. This will be a good start to see how the funds are put to good use and what will be needed going forward,” he added.
Tanaka, focusing on the accountability of the DOA, said the public will need to play a part in ensuring Green and his administration do their jobs.
“At this point, it seems like it's going to just take the public and public pressure in the community to hold the governor and his administration to their responsibilities, and to use their unique authorities that no other department has to really deal with some of these high-risk vectors of invasive species,” he said.