Lawmakers Want State To Make Public The Names Of Companies That Sell Infested Plants
The agriculture department will likely receive $20 million for biosecurity this year. Lawmakers want results.
By Thomas Heaton
Hawaii senators criticized the Department of Agriculture on Thursday for refusing to identify a landscaping company whose pest-infested plants may have been to blame for temporarily shutting down Punahou Carnival’s plant sale in February.
“There’s nothing stopping you. It’s just within your discretion for naming the bad actors,” Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole said after identifying Pua Lani Landscape Design at a briefing Thursday. “How hard was that?”
Nurseries and landscaping businesses are seen as a key pathway for the spread of invasive species such as little fire ants and coconut rhinoceros beetles. But the DOA, which last year said it had identified five nurseries that were knowingly selling infested products, has not named them publicly for fear of litigation.
From left, DOA acting Plant Industry Division administrator Carol Okada, Plant Pest Control Branch manager Darcy Oishi and DOA director Sharon Hurd spent more than two hours answering lawmakers’ questions Thursday. (Screenshot/2024)
Pua Lani Landscape Design was one of several outfits that donated plants to the Punahou Carnival.
Pua Lani Landscape Design did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Pua Lani is one of the original five companies that DOA director Sharon Hurd confirmed in October as selling infested products but did not name.
The senators, from the Commerce and Consumer Protection and Agriculture and Environment committees, made it clear that they wanted DOA to crack down because the company has been unresponsive during six months of correspondence with the state.
“To my knowledge, zero times has there been meaningful intervention that has got a bad actor to comply,” Sen. Chris Lee of Waimanalo said.
Response plans are central to deal with infestations. The DOA has spent months developing the plans and only recently approved them — but only for little fire ants.
DOA acting Plant Industry Division administrator Carol Okada listed several biosecurity initiatives, predominantly related to incoming goods at the border.
But none satisfied the lawmakers’ questions about what would be done to those flouting the rules.
Okada has said the DOA will work on a mapping system to illustrate infestations in nurseries and businesses. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024)
“There’s zero detail at all on how to be the bad cop,” Keohokalole said. “You guys have spent all your time, effort and energy on how to be the good cop.”
Publicly naming a business is defensible if a business is indeed involved with infested plants, Sen. Karl Rhoads, a lawyer, told DOA officials. Litigation is a reality of working in state government, he said.
“Don’t be so worried about the litigation itself; be worried about losing the litigation,” Rhoads said. “Just get your ducks in a row and go for it. That’s what you’re there for.”
The message arrived less than 24 hours after the Senate approved House Bill 2619, legislation that includes $20 million for biosecurity initiatives.
Sen. Mike Gabbard, Agriculture Committee chair, said Wednesday that “the bill is a masterpiece.”
The governor has indicated his support for the bill, which covers everything from little fire ants to coqui frogs and feral chickens. It includes more than $3 million for staff and 44 additional positions. It also solidifies the department’s role as the lead agency for biosecurity.
“Hawaii Grown” is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.