HR 24: REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO INCLUDE A STATEMENT ON DESECRATION LAWS IN THE PLANT AND ANIMAL DECLARATION FORM.

HOUSE RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO INCLUDE A STATEMENT ON DESECRATION LAWS IN THE PLANT AND ANIMAL DECLARATION FORM.

     WHEREAS, section 150A-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires any passenger, officer, and crew member of an aircraft or vessel originating from certain areas, such as the continental United States, and embarking in Hawaii to complete the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form; and

     WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form requires the passenger, officer, or crew member to disclose whether or not they are bringing certain articles, such as plants and animals, into the State and is used by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to ensure compliance with state importation laws and rules; and

WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form include information about federal, and state laws on protected, indigenous, endangered, and threatened wildlife; and

     WHEREAS, in coordination to the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form, the digital Akamai Arrival Program would be an additional media used to facilitate the same functions as the preceding program once it is fully rolled out; and

     WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form also includes the Hawaii Tourism Authority's Domestic Visitors' Basic Characteristics Survey, which has been a critical component of the Hawaii Tourism Authority's research objective of collecting and reporting statistics from domestic visitors to Hawaii, has been an extremely effective survey instrument with a tremendous sample size for more than twenty years, and also provides the Hawaii Department of Agriculture with an additional tool to assist in monitoring and preventing invasive species from reaching the State; and

     WHEREAS, many visitors to Hawaii may be unaware of the various federal, state, and county laws, rules, and ordinances that protect public monuments and structures they may visit while in the State, including but not limited to Native Hawaiian cultural sites, burial grounds, and places of worship; and

     WHEREAS, individuals required to complete the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form are a large, captive audience, making the form an opportune method of also notifying visitors of the laws against desecration; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2025, that the Department of Agriculture is requested to include on the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form a section for each individual required to complete the form to acknowledge and affirm that the individual:

(1)     Is aware of the existence of various federal, state, and county laws, rules, and ordinances that protect public monuments and structures, including but not limited to Native Hawaiian cultural sites, burial grounds, and places of worship;

(2)     Is aware of the federal and state laws on protected, indigenous, endangered, and threatened wildlife; and

(3)     Is aware of ways to learn more about those laws, rules, and ordinances; and

(4)     That the individual will heed those laws, rules, and ordinances; and

(5)     Notes that once the Akamai Arrival Program is underway that the intent of this resolution be facilitated using the program; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Regional Director of the National Park Service for Region 12, Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, and mayor of each county.

Report Title: 

Plant and Animal Declaration Form; Desecration Laws; Department of Agriculture

HOUSE RESOLUTION

requesting the department of agriculture to include a statement on desecration laws in the plant anD animal declaration form.

     WHEREAS, section 150A-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires any passenger, officer, and crew member of an aircraft or vessel originating from certain areas, such as the continental United States, and embarking in Hawaii to complete the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form; and

     WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form requires the passenger, officer, or crew member to disclose whether or not they are bringing certain articles, such as plants and animals, into the State and is used by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to ensure compliance with state importation laws and rules; and

     WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form also includes the Hawaii Tourism Authority's Domestic Visitors' Basic Characteristics Survey, which has been a critical component of the Hawaii Tourism Authority's research objective of collecting and reporting statistics from domestic visitors to Hawaii, has been an extremely effective survey instrument with a tremendous sample size for more than twenty years, and also provides the Hawaii Department of Agriculture with an additional tool to assist in monitoring and preventing invasive species from reaching the State; and

     WHEREAS, many visitors to Hawaii may be unaware of the various federal, state, and county laws, rules, and ordinances that protect public monuments and structures they may visit while in the State, including but not limited to Native Hawaiian cultural sites, burial grounds, and places of worship; and

     WHEREAS, individuals required to complete the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form are a large, captive audience, making the form an opportune method of also notifying visitors of the laws against desecration; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2025, that the Department of Agriculture is requested to include on the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form a section for each individual required to complete the form to acknowledge and affirm that the individual:

     (1)  Is aware of the existence of various federal, state, and county laws, rules, and ordinances that protect public monuments and structures, including but not limited to Native Hawaiian cultural sites, burial grounds, and places of worship;

     (2)  Is aware of ways to learn more about those laws, rules, and ordinances; and

     (3)  That the individual will heed those laws, rules, and ordinances; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Regional Director of the National Park Service for Region 12, Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, and mayor of each county.

Report Title: 

Plant and Animal Declaration Form; Desecration Laws; Department of Agriculture

STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1643

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2025

RE:   H.R. No. 24

      H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

     Your Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems, to which was referred H.R. No. 24 entitled:

"HOUSE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO INCLUDE A STATEMENT ON DESECRATION LAWS IN THE PLANT AND ANIMAL DECLARATION FORM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request that the Department of Agriculture includes on the State of Hawaii Plant and Animal Declaration Form a section for each individual required to complete the form to acknowledge and affirm that the individual:

(1)    Is aware of the existence of various federal, state, and county laws, rules and ordinances that protect public monuments and structures, including but not limited to Native Hawaiian cultural sites, burial grounds, and places of worship;

(2)    Is aware of ways to learn more about those laws, rules, and ordinances; and

(3)    That the individual will heed those laws, rules, and ordinances. 

     Your Committee received testimony comments for this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture. 

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)    Inserting language to include that once the Akamai Arrival Program is underway that the intent of this resolution be facilitated using the program; and

(2)    Inserting language acknowledging federal and state laws on protected, indigenous, endangered, and threatened wildlife; and

(3)    Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purpose of clarity and consistency. 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 24, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 24, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems,