Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Environment

Good morning. So, welcome to the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems and the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment. It is November 24th, Monday. This is our 10 o'clock informational briefing, and first, I'd just like to do some introductions.

So, on behalf of the House, myself, Cory Chun, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture Food Systems.

Matthias Kush, District 1. Hilo Hamakua, using my inside voice for the microphones.

Mike Gabbard, representing Senate District 21 from the west side. It'll be my 10th year chairing the Agriculture Environment Committee. And I also just want to mahalo Rep. Chun for the initiating the briefing and thanks to DAB and in advance for their presentation and for all of you for being here.

We're really looking forward to getting—I've been talking to some of my colleagues, actually some of my constituents as well—getting an update from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity on two critical measures, Act 231, which was passed in 2024, putting real money behind fighting invasives, and then Act 236, which we passed this past session, which will set the stage for true evaluation.

We're looking forward to it. Thank you. Thanks.

All right, with that, let's, let's get into the presentation on...

Good morning. Good morning, chairs, Vice Chair, and members of the committee that might be on Zoom. Over the past two years—oh, my name is Sharon. Oh, Vice Chair Richards.

My name is Sharon Hurd, Chair for the Department of Agriculture Biosecurity, here today to thank you for allowing us time to give you an update on biosecurity measures that we're taking in the state.

Over the past two years, the Legislature and the Governor made historic investments in the Department of Agriculture's programs and with this funding, we were able to rebuild, strengthen, and modernize the infrastructure and resources that we need to do the work we do.

This way, we've been able to prevent, control and mitigate, respond to, and hopefully, sir, to eradicate the invasive species that have found their way into our islands.

That said, we have a long way to go and we have, however, made real progress towards that goal, which is a safer and healthier Hawaii and most importantly, a day when our farmers and ranchers can wake up and not have to deal with invasive species, but they can focus on the task of growing food for us.

Today, we're going to walk through the framework we are building, and we have made many commissions, which we will recap, and for that, I'm going to be calling on our DAB staff to make the presentation.

But first, I want to introduce those of us that are in the room today. Going to say that deputy is off island, another animal protein briefing. But here in the room today, we do have Ag Liaison, Legislative Liaison Cedric Gates. We have our State Veterinarian, Administrator of the Animal Industry Division, Dr. Isaac Maetta.

We have our Pesticide Manager, Esther Reichert, who is also the employee of the year for DAB. Yay, Esther.

Could you raise your hands please so we can see who you are? Thank you.

Esther, raise your hand. Okay. And then we have with us the Plant Pest Control Manager, Dr. Yong Han Lau. And rounding that off, we have Craig Kluitt who is our GIS Program Manager. He'll have a moment with you later on today. Moving on to the presentation, calling on Branch Manager of Plant Quarantine, Jonathan Ho.

You're all familiar with him and the Administrator of the Plant Industry Division, Dr. Richard Kim, which I will ask him to come up. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Hurd, for the introduction. Aloha, Chair Gabbard and Chair Chun, Vice Chairs, and member of committees on Agriculture. Nice meeting you all. My name is Richard King. I'm a Plant Industry Administrator. I recently joined for the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity last April.

And I'm working with all of our branch managers, Jonathan, Esther, and Yong Han as well. I'm going to present the first half of the presentation and then Jonathan is going to present the rest of the part as well.

And at the end of the presentation, we have a newly hired GIS Program Manager, Craig Kluitt, as our Chair introduced. We'll provide a brief demonstration of public facing test dashboard originally scheduled to up and running on December 1 this year but it's already available. It's on live right now.

So, he's going to demonstrate the dashboard and mahalo for the opportunity to provide this information of briefing on our biosecurity framework and current threats and the actions being taken under Act 231 and Act 236 to strengthen our statewide biosecurity system.

This work is essential to protect Hawaii's agriculture, our people, our economy, and our unique island ecosystem from pest and harmful invasive species. Why biosecurity important for Hawaii?

We continue to invest significant state resources to address harmful diseases and invasive pests, and as you see here, rapid ODR death affected natural forest and watershed health, and little fire ant affected agriculture, pets, and wildlife and also community wellbeing and coconut rhinos beetle threatened the cultural landscape and also the food security.

And we also need to prepare for the pests not yet in Hawaii, as you see here the brown tree snakes and also, the red imported fire ant. The statewide cost of widespread establishment of this kind of pest could reach hundreds of millions of dollars with long term consequences for our environment and economy.

And Hawaii's isolation has always been both our greatest strength but also the greatest vulnerability and strengthening biosecurity is not optional; it is essential to our future. What is biosecurity in Hawaii? The goal today is to provide a high-level overview of Hawaii's biosecurity system and the partners who make it work.

And mission statement over here, biosecurity is the set of measures taken to manage the risks from pests and invasive species that prevent, detect, and manage the pest and harmful invasive species that threaten Hawaii's agriculture, economy, environment, and public wellbeing. So, our department lead the effort, but our success depending on the strong collaboration with interagency partners, counties, industries, and communities statewide.

So, what biosecurity means to Hawaii? This picture shows a powerful example of why biosecurity matters.

If coconut rhinos beetle is unmanaged, Waikiki iconic landscape could be dramatically changed, as you've seen in these pictures in the bottom and biosecurity protect Hawaii's economic stability and Hawaii has about $3 million landscape, industry, and tourism economy and nurseries and local food systems and also, biosecurity protect environmental health such as native forest, watershed, and endangered species and also, the biosecurity is protect the community wellbeing, such as public safety, cultural identity, and quality of our life and shared public spaces and coconut rhinos beetle kills palm trees, the impact including unsafe beachfront area, loss of cultural and visual identity of our state, and also, reduce the state revenue through the tourism and declining property values and costly removal and replanting later on.

So, biosecurity protects every sector of our state.

The last two years, Act 31 and Act 36 significantly strengthened Hawaii's biosecurity structure and for our Department, this law enhances authority to regulate high-risk materials in before coming into the Hawaii. Requirement for the offshore treatment and also pre-entry standard. Updated enforcement tools and penalties for imported violations and authority to issue and manage compliance agreement and pest management plan and permanent stating and operational support at the port and in statewide pest management programs.

Act 236 also obtained the Department's name as Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity and clarified statewide responsibility for biosecurity coordinations as well. And this is somewhat busy slide, but we did the state agency with biosecurity functions. Biosecurity is shared among many state entities, as listed in here, and while Federal Government work, federal partners are essential.

Today, we are just focusing on agencies where the state has the direct authority over mandates and resources and those are including our own Department as well as DLNR, DOH, DBEDT, and DLE DOT...and University of Hawaii CTA. And our goal is to ensure clarity of roles, fill gaps, and strengthen statewide capacity.

So, this system depending on shared responsibility and aligned across all agencies.

And Hawaii State has sent two delegations to New Zealand, including Chair Gabbard and Chair Chun this year and Global Leader—New Zealand is the global leader in biosecurity, so we want to learn how they integrate public participation, science and technology, reinforcement and communication and coordination with many different agencies.

And our goal is not to copy New Zealand biosecurity system, but to apply the lessons that make sense for Hawaii's unique needs. And this is the New Zealand biosecurity system.

This New Zealand biosecurity system is they call Hinaki Net, a strong biosecurity system including prevention before arrival into their country and inspections and surveillance at the border and New Zealand—inspection and surveillance at the border and also, their surveillance, detection, readiness, and response after pests came into their countries as well.

And New Zealand biosecurity system emphasized that everyone champions biosecurity and own their responsibilities and New Zealand principal as shown in this slide and we are a net, not a wall, so they do not want to protect their entire commerce, and no system is perfect but multiple layers working together reduce the risk of invasive species.

So, our state is already operated across all three layers pre-border, border, and post borders. For example, the pre-borders our Department has been working with both Oregon and Washington State Department of Agriculture for Christmas tree inspections. When they are shipping into our state these two Department of Agriculture inspecting their trees, they are shipping on the cargo.

In 2012, before we implementing this compliance, we had about 61% of the conversation container supposed to be treated but in the last three years, compliance has exceeded more than 99%.

Only one or two instances we have been found. At Boulder, our plant quarantine inspectors examining express mails package, as you shown here, and after Boulder and CL, we have the port of entry monitoring program through HISC and they are setting up the CLD traps near the port of entrance airport and maritime and also, the picture showing on here is the conducting green waste survey to find out the breeding site for coconut rhinos beetles. And also, the picture below the thread is just injecting tree trunk with pesticides to protect our palm trees and then two pictures on the right just using the broom truck and spray the CLB pests on crown area to protect our trees and these layers work together to protect our state.

And this cartoon illustrates the biosecurity requires all of us, so the cartoon graphic shows each agency is paneling together toward the same goal protecting Hawaii. The ordering the Kano is not intended to suggest any agencies more important than another, but rather, to show that each has a different mandates and responsibilities.

The goal is to share understanding and then shared actions to achieve our goal.

So, this slide emphasizes the core authority mandates of each agencies with biosecurity and responsibilities and it provides the clarity on the role and authority within the state, statewide systems. And some of the statutory roles and responsibilities from our Department is mainly leading the pre border, border activities for the importation of plant and animal into the state, and conducting the pest management which include inspections, certification, and regulation for inter-island or intra island movement as well. And DLNR is leading the pre border and border post border controls for aquatic invasive species and also the terrestrial invasive species as well. And DOH is leading human disease vector management and public health and human welfare and DBEDT is supporting the international trade, economic resilience, and industry engagement. DLE providing the enforcement authority for the containment and quarantine compliance and interagency operations. And DOT manages the seaport, airport, and transportation pathway and his provider policy level directions and interagency coordinations.

UHC TAP provides support of research, identification diagnostics, and outreach and community engagement and also, the scientific tool for development for all of the invasive species' management.

And this is the Hawaii's visualization of nuclear model and key principle including it is most cost effective to manage risk before anything comes into the state.

As shown in this picture, the threat level are highest pre-border, but once they go through our scum net and we can filter out any risk the invasive species and reduce the threat level after the post borders. But the cost are highest if you are not able to manage those pre-border and border side.

For example, brown tree snake program cost about $350,000 per year, but once the brown tree snake come into our state, would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And pre-border, border, and post-border works together as a single and unified program.

And I'll—now I will turn it over to Jonathan to walk through the Hawaii biosecurity network.

So, okay, so I'll be getting more I guess into I think a lot of the tasks that are, that are going to be high level tasks that are be broken down at each of the individual pre-border, border, and post-border segments. What you will see is this slide multiple times.

So, just, just, just to square that away. The second thing is the items will be color coded—red, yellow, green. Red, you know, kind of minimal. Yellow, needs improvement, and green, kind of in progress. But again, these are not absolute.

We're not saying that green is like we're perfect, we're not going to touch up, but it's just kind of where we are today. And what you'll see is the agencies that are indicated are kind of like the leads.

There are a lot of partners that are doing work that may not necessarily be indicated here, but you'll kind of see them on the, on the future slides.

And again, going back to what Dr. Kim said, again we're kind of coming with statutory...level and you know, trying to identify every single task and duty and responsibility or individual program that every person does.

The slide, the presentation would take like five hours and again, it just can really re-emphasize the fact that you know, all of us have our own mandates and all of us have duties and responsibilities to do those things to be comprehensive and you know, obviously mitigate risk for pests and invasive species within the state.

So, same thing. So, the—this is again the pre-border activities and then we'll kind of focus mostly on the risk analysis, the pathway and offshore compliance, the red and yellows. So, for the risk analysis component, you'll see all of the individual tasks doing them. Obviously, we're not getting into like all the nitty gritty.

And then, again, the partners that are—that are there. Act 231 did give funding for this and then we have a contract with the University to do some risk analysis for us.

The pathway compliance component is I think a bigger, a bigger long term goal for us in that, like Dr. Kim said, again, trying to do stuff before it gets here is going to be a keeping and rebuilding our capabilities to do that risk analysis internally.

Not necessarily doing contracts or some type of agreement with the University and then getting that infrastructure built so that this can be something that's done continually obviously will help to mitigate risk before it gets to the state. The offshore facilities and treatments, this is, again, to try to get pushback things before they get to the state.

A lot of goods do require treatments. Coffee, green coffee for example, is something that requires treatment prior to entry into the state. And for other either agricultural goods or other commodities that may not necessarily be agricultural, for example, like mertacea, so plants in the... family, we require treatments and/or quarantine.

So, expanding those requirements and being able to do a lot of this stuff before it gets here obviously minimizes risk either at the border or post-border. And again, public awareness, right?

And just getting I think all of us to be more cohesive and integrated so that as we see issues, we're able to obviously coordinate with each other and then get other partners who are in either transportation or you know, movement or whatever the—whatever sector they're in—on board with what we're doing for biosecurity.

So, here's just some pre-border things that are being done. Akamai arrival—that's, you know, the digital agriculture forum. As of right now, we're basically—all the flights are being done, domestic flights are on board with this. We're getting about 10% more people doing declarations in the physical form.

So, better we need to work more obviously to get 100%. So, we're like going from like 60, like 70, 75% on average. Some airlines are much better than others, but working on that. Most of the airlines are doing the declarations prior to flight, not in flight.

So, we're able to get the information 5-6 hours ahead of time, so we're basically able to meet the planes where we know who we're looking for as opposed to kind of chasing them after the fact. So, like a lot of these ideas are trying to give either more information or minimize compliance—minimize risk—prior to entry.

Like Dr. Kim said again, Christmas trees in Oregon. So, they do a bunch of things prior to entry, and in the beginning, the first three and a—fourth, four years—we were going up to Oregon to kind of see what they're doing. Oregon and Washington have sent staff here to see what we're doing.

And again, that interaction has enabled us to get to basically 100% compliance at this point. And you know, obviously, it's still a work in progress, we're still working with it, but again, significantly less risk. And then, on the last slide on the little bubble on the side is again, treatments, right?

They're doing the treatments of regulated goods before they get here, obviously targeting whatever particular pest it is so that when they get there, the likelihood of them being infested is essentially non-existent. Yeah, so here's the border stuff.

And again, this is kind of our last goal, as it would say, before you get into that really massive post border work. Right? So, and I think this is kind of what I think most people, I think normally see this as it relates to plant quarantine, right? You're doing inspections, things like that.

And you know, and again, a lot of other agencies also do work here like, again like depending on their, on their jurisdiction. So, it's not necessarily just for client quarantine. In this instance, I think we're a little better. I think a lot of these activities are—things are a lot more robust and I think a lot of them can be enhanced.

Again, say, the risk assessment. You'll see this kind of throughout the matrix in that data assessment and pathway profiling. Again, gives us the ability to utilize our limited resource space in places that need to be.

May not necessarily be as much of an issue if you have, you know, unlimited resources. But obviously, that's not the case for us. Surveillance. Again, this is again, as we rebuild the Plant Pest Control Branch, obviously, you know, DOH has got vector control branch back. You know, POEM is there—the Port of Entry Monitoring Program through HISC.

You know, obviously expanding all of those efforts, right, gives us the best ability to detect things initially or where they're incipient before they're established and obviously, take immediate action to eradicate. And then, increase the use of detector dogs. And right now, we have three primarily focused for brown tree snake.

They do do a little bit of cargo. That's only on Oahu. That's something that can be done and then transitional facilities. This is a very, very well established program in New Zealand where they utilize certified facilities. I think they have about 3,800, I believe—something about that right now throughout the country.

And they utilize a lot of private businesses or folks that are basically certified and Act 236 did create authority for this and you know, we're working on that. I think this one is like 28, I believe. This one is a one that's delayed. But again we're, we're working on doing this.

We do already have kind of a pilot, but we already do this to some extent for certain goods, for certain facilities, for fresh fruit and vegetables. So, for a few companies, for some folks, we do do this, not I think to the extent of where the program is going with the rules, but it's kind of a baseline.

So, I think when we get into creating the formal program, transitioning those folks into it will be pretty seamless. The, the biggest difference between us and New Zealand for this particular program is for the goods that aren't specifically regulated.

We regulate a very specific set of goods in 150A. New Zealand does kind of everything that's going to be a bigger challenge and hence the fact that they have 3,800 of these facilities. So, that's going to be getting tied to the risk profiling, which goods can go to transitionals, which facilities can happen, stuff like that.

So, it's a lot like share grids and a lot of work that's going to need to be done moving forward, again, with the partners as well. Again, some of the tasks, right, again. Inspections, get the dogs...harbors, diagnostics—stuff that we kind of target with doing.

And again, this is just from kind of department standpoint again, but a lot of the partners do work here. This is not just a PAD function. So, post border, there'll be four slides for the three nets. So, readiness response is kind of split.

But this is the biggest portion because once things get past the pre and the pre-border and the border, the most amount of work and resources and labor is going to take, it's going to take to deal with pests. And so, again, here are the, the 6—5—things that we're doing.

So, the hotline right now, I think everyone's familiar with...Pest Hotline and the...and then, you'll see the dashboard. So, been trying to I think really centralize all that. And you know, the—his folks have been working with us to really try to like iron a lot of this out.

And I think trying to create a very centralized place for everyone, I think will, will enable us obviously to do these responses, you know, more efficiently. Again, risk assessments, detection, investigation, right, trace forwards, trace backs, diagnostics, all of those tasks need to be more well developed.

Obviously, some agencies are more better at it than us, Like DOH, for example, like you know, they have a very robust system for their stuff but again, the rest of us still need to build that up and then preparedness.

So, one of the biggest things is, you know, historically, we've been pretty reactive as opposed to being proactive and a lot of this is to get to align all of us and to be prepared for the next big thing, you know, whether it be red and...fire ant, whether it be brown tree snake, or whatever other pest that does not exist in the state.

And you know, there was an MOU that was signed and you know, obviously, we've been working with the partners to do these for CRB...and you know, the department's really appreciative of that effort because you know, we're kind of overwhelmed and they've been really helping us to kind of push these along so that they can be done at the state level.

So, again, post border kind of response and regiments kind of, kind of just put them out together just for the sake of moving again. And you'll see that a lot of the tasks between these so like will be tied together.

So, you may see something duplication but they're really tied together to the extent of response or readiness, surveillance, or eradication control stuff. So, readiness is going to be one I think where you have like the most IPL. We've got kind of a long way to go, I think collectively.

And again, a lot of this can bring back to the pest pathway management, same things. We need that to build that up.

The government industry agreement one here, the second one, is I think something that New Zealand really does where they enter into formal agreements with specific agencies—sorry, specific segments—of industries to have them be part of the surveying the responses, stuff like that.

So, we met with the Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association last week to provide them a high level introduction to what we're doing here and to introduce them to the GIA because obviously, right, they, you know, pest and invasive species is their name. That's their business and they want to be part of the solution.

So, we provided them with a high level overview of this, the board, and we wanted them to see, you know, where they were with regards to, you know, embracing some of this because obviously it's going to take work on their part and the board was very receptive to it. And so, that's a good sign for us.

And so, we're working on drafting an actual agreement for them to review for the, at the board level, and then dissemination for their, for their members.

And then, we're going to look to enter into that and we're hoping to be able to establish it specifically for a lot of the target pest and CRB...LFA, and then potentially using some of the funds that we're allocating up to 31 for some like kind of like area wide suppression for like building up some of the fruit fly stuff.

And then, I'm getting more resources into my...on Big Island.

So, again, response management, again, this is get data, how we go about responding and I think creating or making sure that all the partners are using a standardized system so that when a response is implemented, we are all working on the same, you know, same playing field, same standards, and then getting out additional data collection. Pass hotline, resource.

I think, you know, I think we'll get into resources but again building that up so that there's more of this and then making sure that, you know, there's dedicated funding for everyone to do the work.

For example, with the Invasive Species Committee folks, right, they're soft funded and they do a lot of work and that work is important. The Department cannot do it by itself.

And you know, finding ways, you know, how, whatever that is, to make sure that that work can continue in perpetuity because that stops, you know, we're getting behind the eight ball. As we build the simulations, or sorry, we build the plans, actively going out and ensuring that they actually work.

Having a tabletop, whatever that may be, you know, maybe annually, semi annually, we got to work on all that stuff. But again, being less reactive and being more proactive. This is the biosecurity components for farms and non farms, very similar to the GIA, right?

Getting systems that are science-based that folks can implement so that they can do their part to manage risk and then development.

So, there's been a lot of talk, particularly with LCC and CTAHR about trying to create a biosecurity centric curriculum to, to get folks, you know, not only to, you know, the state agencies that do biosecurity work, but also, to get these same folks into farms or you know, as these biosecurity—on farm biosecurity practices—get involved or get created and implemented, you have these folks that are basically, I would say turnkey.

They know what to do and they can get them done, right, so that it's not relying solely on the agencies or the partners to do a lot of this work and the response very similar. So, we're at readiness and then doing the actual tasks.

One of the things that you're going to is again like for example containment eradication is you know, kind of diagnostics, is getting more tools available for containment of eradication. Like as we've seen with coconut rhinoceros beetle, right? We're kind of chasing.

And so, if we can identify pests, we can either do the research to figure out what everyone else to is going already done or do the research before it becomes a problem so that we know what's here.

So, a lot of the challenges, for example, the pests may be foreign, the treatments that they're utilizing are not legal in the US for example. So, what are the analogs that can be utilized so that should there be an incursion, we have the tools already, we're not trying to figure out what they are.

Again, same thing, awareness, engagement, those are, you know, things and then recovery management. So, this one is I think kind of the bigger one in that there's a lot of partners and this is what you're doing when pests are past all the other nets, they are here proverbially to stay. You know, eradication is not physical.

And again, a lot of this is again going back to creating long term—when you create the response plans, having these long term management strategies, right? So, let's say the plan does not work, what can be done? Again, what are the long term disease and management practices that can be done? Again, rebuilding biological control.

And I think there's been a lot of successes and you know, the successes generally are because they work so well, like good example is like nettle caterpillar was really bad and then biocontrol came in. You get outbreaks but you don't remember—a lot of people don't remember it.

Like folks that are new to I think biosecurity, like what is nettle caterpillar? They don't know what it is. But folks from Big Island, you knew what it was. I mean people, you're getting just hammered by that thing, you know, so I think, you know, building that up.

Obviously, the University is doing a lot of work at CRP. Hopefully that's kind of one of our, you know, one of the things that will help solve the problem.

But again, just building up that, that capacity and doing something very similar to New Zealand, where New Zealand for their target pests, they basically preempt the potential for introduction that they start doing biocontrol research for those target pests, so should they get in, they already have the agents already identified so that release can occur so that they can suppress immediately.

One of the big things is that you'll see these three things here—recovery planning, compensation, and welfare. So, New Zealand has a pretty robust recovery component built into their statutes. So, they basically pay folks.

And I think there are some limited examples of this. For example, like the AI, they do like some herd reduction for tuberculosis and stuff like that. So, I think for, in the long term, coming up with this so that when extreme measures may need to be taken, there is the way to get industry on board immediately.

And they're not going to basically just be put out of business if you got to take drastic action for whatever the pest may be, you know, like, you know, H1N5, for example, like you, you know, New Zealand spent a huge amount of money for a lesser pathogenic version.

But you know, they're, you know, the ability to do that is there and they're still working for that compensation process.

But those are, those are kind of the things that I think, you know, obviously that partners are going to have to work with the Legislature on that because again, each of our mandates is going to be slightly different and the impacts to industries are going to be slightly different as well.

So, the way that this is going to be laid out is going to have to be a little bit more nuanced moving forward.

And again, just some quick, some things here, and again, like going back to where you see all the partners and, and you see GIAs, you see like predator troop proof fencing, you know, flying in a helicopter and you know, shooting my, you know...in this instance, repelling off of a cliff, spraying the forest.

Massive amount of resources and cost and you know, and risk, obviously, as well to the staff, to the folks that are doing this work. And yeah, this is not—the Department cannot do this by itself. And going back to like what New Zealand said, right?

Everybody has a role, they gotta, they gotta own their role and do it. And we need to ensure that all of us are working together, you know, moving forward to ensure that we can do the best for the state. And then, yeah, last part for Richard.

Thank you, Jonathan.

So, this is the screenshot of our test dashboard. It was aiming for the launching on December 1st, but fortunately, our new GIS Program Manager on board and then he was able to expedite this process and then now is on live. So, let me introduce our GIS Program Manager, Craig Cruitt.

He's going to demonstrate some of our live dashboards.

Hi, everybody. My name is Craig Cruitt. I am the new GIS Program Manager at Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity. Previously, I was with the Office of the Governor as the Data Scientist for two years, doing the Maui recoveries largely. So, thank you for having me. So, obviously we have this new dashboard. It's brand new, actually.

We just turned it on today, so it's a work in progress. It's definitely going to be something that we're going to improve upon. We're using agile development and it's called we're rolling it out today, but basically, every quarter, we're going to be updating and improving upon it. We certainly need to do some cleaning up of the house.

It's a new position, the GIS Program here. I would like to thank Enterprise Technology Services, ETS. They helped greatly with the look and feel of the dashboard, the website part of it. Very helpful to do that. So, let me stop sharing here and still.

...Available?

Yes, Chair.

Great. Okay, so it's called biosecurity.hawaii.gov. That's—was chosen before I got here. So, it's a website where we're, again, we're going to be adding in more and more, but we started off with the four main pests or interests: avian flu, coconut rhinoceros beetle, coqui frog, and little fire ant.

So, what we do here is we're basically—a lot of it's going to be storytelling in the beginning of what the problem is, what are some of the solutions, how we're approaching it, and then we're going to have all the data metrics and the data metrics, again, we're going to be improving upon it once we get a little more work with the HISCs and the DLNR folks, we'll start to try to coordinate it all into one centralized place and work together.

That's a work in progress. So, we basically have a landing page telling you who we are, what we're doing, and stuff like that. Our friend Josh Green, the Governor.

And then, we go down to the program so we can look at it different ways. Avian influenza, of course, hopefully it's kind of here, but it's not a problem yet. But anyway, so we have our animal industry. People are working on that.

And so, again, it tells us about it, what we're doing, what are some of the symptoms, how you can protect your flock and, you know, general information from the public, which we want to get out there and we definitely want to get working with the public and even schools and stuff like that, because we want to make it engaging because really, again, it's not just us, it's everybody on board here.

So, we go down and we, you know, tell about it, of course, contact information if you have questions or concerns. Again, what you should do if you see a sick bird in this case. And then we jump to the maps and dashboards.

So, in this case, I was working with our Chief Veterinarian, Dr. Raquel Wong, so she was able to provide the information, so here's where they're actually doing the samples and testing. So, again, people across the state can go and take a look, see what's going on, be assured that we are doing something.

And then, we're going to be updating this. We're going to get it to live feed eventually where we can see exactly where the work is being done and how it's being done and what the conclusions are. So, so far, actually, it's been good on this one. There's not been a lot of problems. So, there's that one.

Then we jump to the CRB, which is certainly grabbing the headlines now. So, again, story about what it is, how it got here, it's a great picture of a drone, how we're using new technologies and we'll be increasing our awareness of how we're tackling this with drones and other new technologies, how you can report it.

Again, the spread, the response, that's my information like that. Very importantly about the host material, especially, as we all know, the compost is really problematic. This one, which everybody has a pile in the backyard, I'm sure, like I do, unfortunately. And then again, we go to the maps and dashboard section.

So, on the maps and dashboard section, we have people out there, you know, live going every day with, you know, devices, phones, tablets, GPS equipment, collecting data samples and stuff like that, or treatment samples. So, in this case, it's treatment, how they're either spraying it or doing trunk injections and stuff like that.

So, there's different programs and obviously, we're testing out the science to find out which one's the best and most appropriate across the state. We'll be reporting on that. Again, it just started basically a year ago, so we're just going to take a little time for some of the science to catch up with us, so we can really say which ones.

Basically, different treatments in this case—spraying or trunk injection across the islands. Same thing with—this is fiscal year. So, we have it from last year.

We're going to start basically everything from last year, fiscal year '25 and then going into fiscal year '26, because the data before that was a little bit light. But anyway, so that's our basic approach. And again, so you can see where we're doing it, what kind of treatments we're doing, things like that.

Then, of course, here on Kona, you know, we just started actually, we were just there last week. So, here's some examples of where we were looking at the Kona ag parts and the Kona Airport. We were just at the Kona Airport last Thursday doing truck injections.

So, again, it's how many of the treatments, things like that, where they're being done in general. And then again, some statistics, which are really important metrics, statistics, information about what we're doing and how we're doing it. And then, we also go into these live dashboards.

So, the dashboards, again, generally, we're going to be reporting by zip code level, although we do have the data down to actual, like nurseries or people's property. But again, we don't want to be outing people or if it's on private property.

But we are collecting that data and then we're reporting it back out at the zip code level, so that makes it, again, something that everybody can appreciate and look at their own zip codes.

And in this case, again, we're talking about what kind of treatments we're doing, what kind of trees we're doing it on, different species, mostly coconut of course, property types. Again, is it private, residential, state land, county land, so we're tracking that and then, again, what kind of applications, how we're doing it, drones or manual tanks, whatever.

So, we're doing that again. So, that's '25, fiscal year '25, maybe fiscal year '26. And these are going to be, once we get going a little bit more, they'll be up to date, live. Basically, these kind of dashboards, people can actually see data real time.

So, if they see somebody under spraying say along a beach park on Saturday, by Monday or Tuesday, it will actually be in the dashboard representing that. So, keep track.

Again, it's really good also for scientists, also when we go to like UH and all that. They can take this data and really do some great research, which is important. So, that's the coconut rhinoceros beetle. Oh yeah. So, again, we have—and then we have so different types, and this is the responses actually.

So, we have the treatments that we're doing and also the responses, so we can take a look at that as well in dashboard form. And then we'll be adding more as we work with the...and the DLNR and the CTAHR because they'll be doing similar things. We'll work together to make best presentation of that materials.

Then, if we go look at coqui frog favorites. So, the coqui frog, again, story about what it is, why it's a problem, and all that kind of to report it. Then also, maps and dashboards. And then, so, here's where we can see coqui captures. So, by zip code again.

So, you can see some zip codes have quite high numbers, eight hundreds and thousands by zip code. Then we have it again for this year, fiscal year. And then, we have the live dashboard. This one, in this case, actually is live.

And so, in this one, we can actually start to click on things like oh, this is my zip code so I can click on this bar, and it will highlight in the map where it is, and all the numbers on top now are just for that zip code. So, again, it's gonna be interactive so people can really, because again, most people I know using maps, first thing they wanna do is zoom to their house and they wanna look at oh, this is mine, right, so we wanna make sure that that's available to people.

So, again, if you have to live in zip code, you can click on it, find out the number of responders, how many frogs have been captured, see it on the map. And then, up on top, seeing what kind of surveyor treatment. So, we did that for the coqui frog for last year. And also pounds of citric acid.

Of course we're using citric acid, not pesticides, to remediate on the coqui frog. So again, so information about how much citric acid. And we'll probably put more information about what that is because some people don't understand that we're using food grade safe treatments, instead of pesticides, which people would like to hear.

And again, we have it for last year, for this year. And finally, little fire ants. Little fire ants. Again, the issue, what the problem is, explanation about it, why it is bad. Again, as we know, pet issue or even people that outing at the park get affected by the little fire ant.

So, this is a great one again for citizen science because this is one that people can actually, you know, bring home samples from schools and things like that and test their neighborhood, test their school areas, so it's a fun one for kids.

So, it's a really good one that we can get this information out maybe for schools to help, you know, schools can do their own little areas and stuff, help us out, help themselves. The little fire ant dashboard, same thing, so we're talking about where we're doing the work.

Again, we sum it up by zip code level, but we do have the data again about the negatives versus positives because, again, we put out samples and then we see if the ants come right. So, that's what that's showing.

So again, if you see a green circle with no red, that means it put out samples but did not find any negative. But if you do see these circles with the red, that's where we got start to worry and start to work extra hard. So we have that for last year, that this year.

So, again, you can see what areas we're doing it. And again, on the dashboard, number of samples put out, number of samples positive, total acreage. And again, we did the same thing with the maps.

So, again, if you want to see where it is, you can click on your zip code again and it will highlight that Waimanalo, in this case the hotbed for little fire ants on Oahu. And so, again, people can really focus on the issue that they're concerned about or interested in.

And we'll be expanding this out again more as time goes on and again, working with the...and the DLNR folks to the all the islands. So, this is right now a lot of it's Oahu but we will be expanding that out shortly. Just going to take a little bit of time for—I just started first of week as a member. A little ambitious, so we got this far.

But ideally though, we're going to have it all out statewide of course have a lot more data because it's going to be fed in and then make it fun for the public.

Again, we really want to make it so it's down to a level that the public can understand and appreciate and really hope to get into like schools and things like that participating, so make it citizen science type oriented.

But again, in the background, we're going to be creating a big database of scientifically collected in analyzed data that we'll be looking at it for actually solving the problems or attempting to. So, that's all I have for today. Again, we have, we'll be adding other programs—Brown Tree Snake and such.

We have the data, we just have to collect it and it's live. We're not going to turn it off even though we had December 1st deadline. We're, we're live today. We're going to just keep improving and again, we'll be doing quarterly updates and adding in new things as we go.

And I already have meetings starting tomorrow with the...and the fiscs and all the people like that. So, we'll be adding in the data very quick.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations on getting it done early. I think that's a world record. Good job.

Thank you so much, Craig. So, currently, our dashboard is mainly focusing on those high priority pests, coconut rhinos beetles and coqui frog and little fire ant and also avian flu.

And primarily, we are using our internal data at this point but we are just continue to working with our interagency partners and we can update all of the data we are collecting from our partners as well. And also, we can expand some of other invasive species' data later on. With that, mahalo for your continued support for Hawaii, the biosecurity effort, and our shared goal is simple but critical.

So, we try to keep pest and harmful invasive species away from our state and prevent their spread within our islands. And a strong coordinated system, pre-border, border, and post-border is essential to protecting our agriculture, native ecosystem, community, and economy.

So, Act 231 and Act 236 have given us the foundation to modernize and strengthen these systems, and we look forward to continue this work with all of our partners, and thank you for the opportunity to present this bio security framework for our Department. And with that, we are happy to answer if you have any questions.

Thank you very much for the presentation. Before we get into questions, I just want to introduce our members who were here at the beginning, Senator Richards and Representative Matsumoto. That will open up for questions.

Hi again, I'm Lauren Matsumoto. I represent Mililani and Milani Mauka, and it's nice to be back on the ag committee after I think a few years of not being here. Ag is one of my favorite things. So, I love hearing all that you are doing.

I have a lot of questions, but I'm just going to get to my main one which I think is one of the most important. Just as legislators, how can we best be communicating with our constituents with all the work that you're doing so we can all be paddling in the same direction?

I don't know which organization did it, but I remember my daughter got coconut rhinoceros beetle tattoos that were life size and now she can identify them anywhere she goes. But I do know there's many of my constituents, they'll see a CRB but they don't report it or it's already dead. They don't know.

Are they supposed to report it still? So, there's a lot of those questions that they have. So, how can we best communicate with them? And do you have PDFs; do you have infographics?

Because I know all of us do newsletters that we can be pushing stuff out to our constituents, especially with this new dashboard, which is really interesting.

Yeah. So, the goal is I think to like, because you know, the, the website is like biosecurity.com and I think the goal is to, you know, try to centralize everything. And a lot of the work, I think particularly with like CRB response—so, going back to the tattoo, that is from the CRB response team.

This is the ugliest tattoo I've ever seen, but she wore it proudly.

I mean, and you know, and I think the goal worked, right? Clearly, right, you know, she knew what to do. And you know, we, you know, both, both programs get a lot of calls about CRB and like, is it CRB? Is it not? What do I need to do?

And I think as it relates to Oahu, Oahu is a little different in that it's just so widespread and I think the messaging and the work that needs to be done is I think what can you do to help manage the risk of CRB as it relates to Oahu and not spreading it to places that do not have it, particularly Inner Island?

And, and I think the goal really is, again, right, to get everybody like on board and really draw the lines of who's doing what, where, and ensuring that you know, whichever agency is deemed, you know, for example, if CRB response is going to be deemed with all of it, that's fine.

But everyone knows where to go, everyone in the room. Because when you look at the room you have, you have basically we saw that kind of like wheel graphic. Everybody in that graphic is here. And I think that says a lot that everyone understands that biosecurity is important.

So, again, it's making sure that all the partners who are doing biosecurity work, even if it's not their Kumyana, to understand where to send people so that they can do this stuff.

And like Craig said, right, it's trying to make sure that, you know, what we have jives with everybody else so that it may not necessarily be us that has it, but people know where to go and what to do and then getting into like those very specific—county specific—plans because the problems are very different depending on the county.

Like what Hawaii Island has to deal with is very different as it relates to Koki and...but significantly different for CRP as opposed to Oahu, right?

So, it's a completely different set of plans and messaging and I think getting all that out and centralized, everybody understands what to do because a lot of times, you may see something, but it may not necessarily be designed for you and your particular circumstance.

And I think trying to get that nuance out is something that we really need to work, I think, better on coordinating for all of us.

So, currently, we have an existing reporting system, 643 Pest and also 643Pest.org, and still, those two major reporting system is active, but we want to improve those reporting systems all connect to our dashboard and everybody can see what kind of report we are getting.

And also, even though you have a dead CLB found in your neighborhood, still reporting is really important because we are not able to go out each individual locations and identify and record—record keeping all of those for management strategy.

But if the public and community is reporting those stuff, then we are automatically collecting those information and we have a general idea where the problem coming from so we can map out how to focusing on our resources and management—the structures.

I said—sorry, just to clarify, do we still send people to call 643 PEST or—I didn't quite understand if there was some sort of reporting mechanism on the dashboard or if the dashboard, if there is—so that button, when you click it, you can report if you see something.

So, so, so, so, so—the phone number, 6—for the 808-643-7378 pass, that goes to the Department. 643pests.org, the online reporting, is actually run by HISC. So, HISC takes the reports and then they, they kind of funnel them up because they can kind of go to everybody. So, the dashboard is—so, right now, the Department doesn't really have a formal, a formal way for people to submit electronically.

So that's what it does. So, it's basically taking the phone number and giving somebody the ability to do it electronically, but it's, it's a completely separate system from the existing one. But it's, it's just to help facilitate transmission of information.

So, what will end up happening a lot of times is somebody will call us and they'll say, like, I have a coqui frog, okay? So, you know, you got to screen it. Was it during the day? Was it at night? What's up?

You know, did you did you hear the sound? You know, whatever it may be, a lot of times people may not necessarily know or be conclusive, so what we do is we tell them, next time you hear it, go outside. Everyone has a phone now. Just listen to it.

And then, so we have this, you know, very roundabout way of getting this information, so if you can do that, right, then it's just, hey, just go here, do this. And then, we can just deal with it. You kind of just help speed it up.

And I think, you know, kind of melding the two programs to make sure that they're kind of jiving in it so that we can get that data out of the dashboard because, like, you'll notice that the dashboard doesn't have test response. So, that's something that, you know, obviously we can start building into that.

And that's—I love the dashboard because I remember I called once for a coqui frog, and it was like, is it fat or skinny? And I'm like, as a—compared to what? I don't know. So, I was like, are the toes long or short? And again, I was like, yeah, it's compared to what?

So, I think it's helpful that there is actually those visuals that you can send people to. You know, I had a greenhouse frog, I'm hoping. So, if there's a coqui infestation In Milani, it's not my fault. But I think that's—I'm really excited about the dashboard and excited to push as much information out to my constituents, and I'm sure we all are, to do that.

So, thank you for the work you've all done.

Yeah, so, and I think, I think for that, pushing that to the constituents up, like, I think as we become more centralized, obviously, right, we can provide that to folks.

And then, you know, we can lead with one of the things that we've been very thankful for the assistance is that as we've been doing the LFA treatments with the contract, in particular districts where we've had some challenges, we've actually used the representatives, the centers, to help kind of get their constituents on board.

There were a couple places where we had quite a bit of resistance. And, you know, getting those folks on board really helped us to kind of get past that to start the treatment. So, I think as we—as we develop more of these things, I think very targeted information to you folks is going to be very helpful to really achieve a lot of their goals. And then I think a lot of the partners already do that.

And I think right now, just kind of just coalescing all of that to make sure that everybody's on the same page.

Thank you.

I can probably speak for the next hour. Or ask questions, I should say, like you talking about. Historically, our state's always been late to the party. Every time we have an invasive species, we are very tangled up in policy procedures. We don't respond as quickly as we should. Have we gotten through that?

That's a yes or no.

Sort of.

Yeah. I mean, I want to be honest about it. I think, I think to the extent I think to say yes is—I think would be disingenuous. And to say no is also disingenuous as well. Like, and the, and—and I think the best example right now is, I think what we're doing in Kona, you know, and it's, it's not perfect for CRB.

It's not perfect, but, you know, you have this doing all and CRB response kind of doing a lot of the surveying, a lot of the outreach.

The Department has been basically really focusing on the treatments. You know, DOT has been really helpful with providing a lot of the physical resources. We have machinery and things like that. The county has been assisting. DLNR has offered to assist if necessary. We haven't really had to call in on calling and call them in on it.

And then, we've been with, with some of the newest infestations, which do involve some deal in our land, right. They're, they're kind of on board. So, it's, you know, the, I guess the idea of what we presented is occurring. Is it perfect?

No, and I think that goes back to I think trying to kind of create these very, you know, I think standardized plans and documented plans that really identify who's doing what, where, and who's accepting the responsibility for those particular tasks, so that moving forward, right, if, you know, if you're going to do the, you know, the surveying, that's your Kuleana. Nobody else is doing it. You're responsible for it. If you need help, you gotta ask.

And you know, and I think, and I think, you know, we're guilty of that as well with the Department.

But ultimately, I think that—I guess to address that idea of being responsive, right, if you have the plan ahead of time, going back to like identifying the resources, where are the gaps, who can do what, if all of that comes into fruition, like going forward for the Legislature, right.

If we have the plan and if we believe that, you know, we need A, B, C, D, E, F, G—or A to Z are the things that we need to do, 10 of the things are completely vacant and they require resources, right?

If you guys have that, you guys have the ability to decide this is important or not and help us to move.

I mean, but I mean, because I think right now, right, I think a lot of times what ends up happening is you have the problem, everybody responds, and nobody really knew what the problem was until it became a bigger problem.

Well, see, and that's the problem that we've had in the past. For instance... the fire. It wasn't a problem, and no one would get excited until it was a problem because it wasn't a problem. Yes, which is one of those self-fulfilling prophecies.

So, on that, we talk about biosecurity and glad Chair just came back in. We're talking plants, we're talking animals, we're talking disease. So that's all falls into the biosecurity. What is the authority—and I'm sure I am looking at you—to declare a quarantine right now?

Do you have the authority?

We do have, we do have that authority right now. How quickly can you declare a quarantine for anything? A plant invasiveness, an animal. Let me finish asking the question first. Plant invasiveness, an animal invasiveness, or a disease? How quickly can you respond?

We can respond quickly. I mean avian flu, H5N1, we, whenever there's a flock of birds that's reported that's dead, we have the capability to respond. Declaring an emergency, that might be..

Quarantine depends on the situation. We can do it though. For instance, I'm going to use H5N1.

Declaring quarantine.

We know it's a disease, we know it's a threat, we know it's here—on and on. But at what point do you declare the public to be wary? And I think if we have enough of those dots up there where public is reporting, I can tell you this. DLNR, DOH, DOT, Department of AG, we have the capability to test. Okay, we can test, but we don't have the legs on the ground.

But I'm talking about can you declare a quarantine for a region little fire ants.

Well, can I use the quarantine for H5N1?

No. No, because that's a, as a human side. I'm talking for something like QLB, CRB. Yeah, that's fine. Or little fire ant.

We, we can.

Quickly?

Quickly. We did the interim rule for movement on your island quickly and it was a 90-day temporary stop movement.

The reason I'm asking is because do we need to do legislation that you can declare that and shut it down? And so, then let's branch over to animal side. Several years ago, and I could probably remember, probably about 12, 14 years ago, we had trichomoniasis diagnosed in the state.

We didn't have the ability to shut down livestock movement for trichomoniasis.

Is that a swine thing?

No, it's a cattle thing. But the industry voluntarily quarantined itself. It would have been better if Department of Ag had the ability, so do we have that ability to get those things done?

I'm going to say we have the ability, but we have to be careful because is it a true—is it a true threat? Is it something that—so we have to, if I say that it's a pest, people will say, well, this is a pest, right?

So, it has to be a declared maybe through the animal industry, Plant Animal Board, declared pest.

What I'm looking for is the problems and the walls, oh, we can't do this. We can't. Tired of hearing cannot.

Yes. Yeah, so.

So, Senator, you have—we, we know that we can count on you for legislation. You're a champion for this. You can say that we currently have the authority. We did that not necessarily with the animal, but with the movement of green waste on Big Island. We were able to do that quickly.

But it was a temporary stop movement. We needed the county's support.

And I'm okay with temporary and back it up.

And then, now, we're working on the permanent rule. So, the quarantine is in place now for greenways movement within Hawaii county for certain zip codes. So, we can do it. It's just to what extent do you want. Okay, I'm going to use another one.

You want to talk Molokai? Molokai came to the board and said they want absolute no movement of plant material into Molokai. Period. We kind of had some discussion. You know let's omit gravel. Let's omit—let's be careful. Let's have the Department treat especially something like construction material before sending it to Molokai.

And it was adamant the testimony was strongly in support of the total quarantine.

So, Jonathan put it in—what Jonathan, one week?

So, with regards to the Molokai. So, I think we got it,and I think the petition was obtained, I want to say it's in July or August and I think, was it October? September? October? I don't remember. It's so, so long ago. But we were, we, we completed the internal.

Yes. So, with—the petition came, we had the board meeting. The quarantine happened. I want you to know that there was strong voices from the Mokai that said we don't want this.

No, I understand but, so, you're telling me it took 60 to 90 days to get a quarantine in place and that may be shutting the barn door after the horse is out. Chair, I don't want to.

I'm just gonna—actually we're gonna go one.

We'll come back to you too.

Okay.

You bet.

Are you going down the line?

Yeah, sure.

Thank you for your guys' presentations today. Sharon, you should probably stay. Maybe, maybe just...the Chair and so, I'm sure a lot of people will look to you for guidance. From a...just one question.

Is there—do you guys have a strategic discussion at like when is a time, you know, we're talking about the 643 Pest. That makes it really has a lot of friction it sounds like from the average person living in Mililani to Rep. Matsumoto's point to like trying to describe biological features of a tree frog to someone on the phone versus, you know, technology allows for a quick photo or video or if, you know, there's a lot of easy steps you can build into a website for seamless conveyance of information and do you guys have like a strategic team, in the DAB community maybe involved with DLNR and HISC?

Like here's how we can improve our IT or our, our full consumer-facing face versus sounds like you guys are just thinking of only the professionals or within your own silos.

You know his does this and we don't interact even, so there's a website and a phone number that's similar but that's like 1980 feeling technology. And then like with, in that same vein, like is there conversation between these organizations? Like why are we throwing money at coqui frogs? Like that's out.

I'm betting that a lot of those districts—I walk around Waikiki, you can hear them occasionally. You know those get on cars, you know, on Hawaii Island, it's widespread. You, they track on—on a truck comes apart. You, someone parks at your lot, it jumps in the wheel well, it drives and the females are silent.

They're, you know, they're out there. And I go, what point are we in the LFA? I remember we had the discussion last year pouring money into that, whereas maybe those resources are better spent in bio control methods or even RFAs. I understand there's organizations out there.

I know those are kind of like outside leading edge is looking at the private sector for genetic warfare against ants. There's no native ants in Hawaii so it's not like you're going to be hurting the endemic ant of Oahu.

You know, just, just do you guys have a strategic committee amongst all these different players to like meet once a quarter and, and hey, are we using our resources effectively, our public funds, our time, our energy? Like stop fighting fire ants in certain areas because that, that is out.

Let's, let's spend our resources and, and do things like what Senator Richards is talking about, and.

We do have strategic planning. And the word that I like to use is interagency. It's always interagency strategic planning. And the thing that we want to do is, to your point, we go by public, public response. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

So, we don't, we hear from you all that, you know, I'm getting all these calls for corporations, so we respond to coqui fog. We're getting all these calls for CRB. I just had a conversation out with the representative outside. We're going to make videos and we're going to post them on the website that you can click.

How do you identify a CRB? If you want infographic, you can download and print. So, we do work with all of the agencies to do that, but it is public enquire you. We get our feedback from you. Rosary and Parakeet. You're not going to hear that outcry from Maui because Maui doesn't have it.

You're going to hear it from Oahu and Kauai. So, we respond to that. But this team is going to be well served by the dashboard because the dashboard will track how many calls we're getting, what are we hearing from, how many clicks on this, how many clicks on that, so we'll have a better way to respond.

And you're giving us the tools to respond. We do need some additional tools. As far as quarantining, that's a tough one because the public, when you quarantine something, you always have unintended consequences. And the unintended consequences are sometimes as problematic as the actual quarantine, not for something as dangerous as an animal disease. We know that.

So, we're working our way through. Yes, we do have strategic plans. In fact, there's a, his quarterly meeting next—this Wednesday—just before the holiday and we talk about that as interagency. There's about 10 members and we talk about how we're going to fill the gaps. But we are taking the lead.

The dashboard is really showing us the way. The dashboard is pointing us to the way. So, there's also groups like the Plant Animal Board, Jonathan attends that, the SPRO though, so he attends these national meetings. So, we get trends, it's just we're starting.

Yeah, no, no. And I, I thank you. Don't get me wrong, you guys are, you got good progress. I think with their, you know, I've been to New Zealand, these guys have been into New Zealand. Senator Gabbard several times—a couple times.

I think the difference there, and I look at your maps and I almost think about the demographic and those zip codes and the maps and like people reporting, not reporting. And I think in New Zealand, you know, they have invasive species hunts and all kinds of things.

It's built into the culture and I think that's one of the strategic goals. And maybe Craig back there, like you understand what I'm talking about using the IT to reduce friction for consumer interface and QR codes and four digit number text me or picture video sounds, those kinds of things are relatively low hanging fruit.

And I just hope that that's part of your strategic planning. And in combination, there's a lot of environmentalists in this, in the state, that can help and making that available to farmers. You know, it's a difficult task. I understand that. I appreciate you guys leaning in hard.

Biocontrol.

Yeah, no, that's huge. And I've asked you folks, I reached out, you know, please send us your thoughts for this coming legislative session. I think that's the sting—I use that the stinging nettle caterpillar. The willy willy gob wasp. Another fantastic success story.

I always ask community meetings who's been stung by stinging nettle caterpillar because on Hawaii Island, it was a super common thing to just reach into any vegetation, get stung. And the other one, the coffee bearer borer, I've seen it decrease, you know, so that's another potential success. But we need to really spool that up. There's a lot out there.

The funding did give us funding for CBBCLR, and we've expanded that to biocontrol. I did want to go back to what Jonathan mentioned on the GIA. It's confusing because GIA means granting aid, right? It actually is a government agency. We're going to change it at some point to Biosecurity Industry Association.

That's going to be really, really important because let's say the floriculture industry has been said to be the source, right? So, we're going to say hey, we got an outbreak of this bug right here. The GIA program will have taught them, this is how you identify, these are the tools you need.

We're going to give you the chemical, you have a sprayer, delimit, start here, and then slowly control it. But the agreement that we need from them is even if it's not a Hawaii Floriculture Nursery Association member, you are willing to help the industry and the liabilities and issues.

So, we want to expand that to the tropical food growers for avocado lace wing bug, expand it to the cattle industry, expand it so that we have these government industry groups almost like military, you know, you can deploy them, get them out there and delimit.

That's something we picked up from New Zealand, what they do.

Thank you. Vice Chair, can I add one comment? In terms of the diagnostics of pests or diseases, our Plant Pest Control Branch tried to create our diagnostic sections. So, these diagnostic sections will have plant pathologists and entomologists, can have a public diagnostic service available.

So, even though there's an AI technology out there, they can take a picture and then do identification. But this technology is not applicable for all pests and diseases. So, we gonna strengthen our capability for the diagnostic service to the public.

So, they can either—they can send samples or if possible, they can send photos or videos and then we can provide any diagnostic identification to the public and also, not only providing the diagnostic result, but also, we can collect all of those information, who is reporting, where those insect or disease is founding.

Those are the fundamental of our database. We don't need to send out, send out our staff every single locations so public can report their findings, their observation to us, then we can do more thorough surveys in that area. That's the plan we have right now.

Good. Well, I look forward to it. Thank you, Doctor.

So, my question is, I have a question on prioritizing invasive species going forward, under this new framework. So, not every invasive species affects agriculture, environment, and health, and those are probably three competing interests.

So, going forward, undersea framework, how would you prioritize which invasive species rises to the level of getting in some of these eradication plans?

Good question. And that is based on the threat to public health and safety.

I mean, and the other thing we consider is what is the threat to the continental US because federal funds depends on what is the threat to the continental US, so, public health and safety and usually, it's human health. Right?

So, that's where Dr. Mayer comes in and Department of Health. The big, big, big scary one is foot and mouth disease, and we're trying so hard to keep that out.

So, the priority would be based on the threat to public health and safety, the threat to the invasion to the US, and I guess the other one would be the outcry from the public.

But I would defer to Richard.

Yes. So, I think our statute have the procedure how we can classify as a pest and to declare as a pest, we have an economic analysis and environmental impact and so on.

So, once we collect all of those information, it's depending on how much those invasive species impact on our agriculture and ecosystems and natural environment and so on.

We can prioritize based on those informations.

This is a follow up with Rep Kusch's point that he made. And by the way, I liked your canoes here. And so the follow up question is you have the eight departments and then you also have public, one of the rowers and the canoes, public, industry and county. Right. So you had the eight departments and those three.

So my question is, are you. And each of you has talked about the goal is to have clarity on what's reaching goals. So do you have regularly scheduled meetings of everyone here so that you can go over these things and determine the priorities and do whatever needs to be done?

Yes, we have a regular meeting with all of the interagency partners. But industry and public, we have not engaged those. Those ones yet. So all of those. The framework is based on what we are wishing for. So we want to include publics and industries as well in our- Yes, county as well.

So only the one example, when we are working on the CLB in Kona, every bi weekly meeting we invite county staff and they provide their feedbacks and their recommendation as well. But not all invasive business cases, but we have to work with the County Department as well.

And also once we have a government industry agreement and we are expecting that industry is going to be heavily involved in our biosecurity effort so they can provide their feedback and also they have to provide resources and the labors as well. So that's what we are hoping for.

Because on our trip to New Zealand that was one of the main points that came out was just the people getting out of their silos and actually these agencies working together. So I really think that this is super important and that um- Yeah?

I do have a question which I probably shouldn't since I wasn't here for the first part of it. And I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be cool. I went to the eye doctor just now and I can't see anything with the glasses off. On the following up on the New Zealand comparison, my impression in New Zealand.

I haven't been there on an official tour, but my impression just from hiking in the woods, was that they are going after species that we would consider well established. Like they're trapping rats, which to me is- I mean that's been there since Captain Cook, if not before.

It seems like there's a little bit of a tension between trying to stop stuff from getting a toehold and then continuing to fight invasive species that are well established, like Coqui frog. Are we- are we just- are we?

I can't I couldn't tell from the conversation whether we're giving up on Coqui frog because it's already here, or just a higher priority is stopping the new stuff or are we trying to do both?

Let me just say that we just had a meeting with Speaker Nakamura and the. One of the things we're doing is we are. The speaker is looking at doing a predator type of control and that would include rats and mongoose and dogs and cats. So it's a-

It's to control even things now that we consider, you know, we have to live with. So, oh and mongoose. Did I say mongoose? So those. She has an idea to do a predator control type of Bill, which speaks to what you said as far as outcome.

But right at the moment, what do we do?

Yeah, oh, for that?

Not for those species necessarily, but in terms of the split between, we have limited resources, so bang for the buck. It probably makes more sense to focus on the emerging threats as opposed to the ones that are already really dug in.

So, I guess what's being done is both. And the level of resources that are being input is it. It varies essentially right now by county. So for, you know, so like, so for example, we'll use I think Hawaii island as it relates to LFA and Coqui.

The most of their work is basically to prevent interacting, but a huge amount of input being put into CRB. Whereas Oahu know, there's quite a bit put into CRB. I'm sorry, LFA and Coqui, not so much anymore on CRB. And then you have like islands of like Molokai, which don't have any of the pests, obviously. Right.

So you're just, you know, we're not going to obviously give up on those. And then Maui, again, I don't have CRB, LFA and Coqui, you know, they have their issues and same thing with Kauai.

So I think to the extent prioritizing, I don't think it's as easy as like you hit a threshold and you just turn it off. A lot of it really depends on the pest, your ability to detect and your ability to control or mitigate it or eradicate it.

Like Coqui, for example, is an unusual one in that it tells you it's there, so you can do something. And until we have these kind of two big outbreaks on Oahu, you know, the Department and the partners have been able to keep Oahu free of Coqui.

It's been in the state for what 40-40 years? I'm not sure. It's been here in the state a very long time. And you know, the existing systems that we've utilized have worked. They're not perfect.

And obviously, you know what, you know, once it gets past I think the critical points, like for example, like with, in Waimanalo, right. It was found in the worst possible place, you know, like a mile away from anywhere at the base of a mountain. And, and it's, you know, and it's not for lack of effort.

We tried helicopter drops at Citric. We got, you know, the community has done a huge amount of effort out there with DLNR and OISC spraying and, and I think those, the existing pests, I don't think we should just give up on them unless it is like-

And again, I think this goes back to, I think some of the other comments about like where's the threshold?

Like when, when does it become, you know, you just, you, you turn the switch off and you're going to turn and take all those resources that you're using for mitigation and turn it into research or, or whatever that may be.

And so the New Zealanders, they, they do give up on some, some stuff occasionally?

So New Zealand is very, so like for example H1N5, they're not going to take too much, I think remedial measures. I think if it's, if they start finding a lot of it, they, they've- for them it's mitigation or what can they do to live with it?

And yeah, and I think we need to come up, I think with like again going back to the risk assessment and all that, that unit of folks that are taking the existing data, what's happening else in the world and then, then applying it to us right? We don't really do a good job of that.

And I think and utilizing all the partners and things like what, what can, what are we realistically capable of doing for a particular pest? And that's what we're able to do. And if we get past that point, you know-

Senator? To give you, to give, to give you evidence of how we have not given up on Coqui frog. We are stock-

I hate to use the word stockpiling, but citric acid, food grade citric acid is very difficult to get and it takes a long time to come in.

So Jonathan, Dr. Han, they're now ordering in advance and we take delivery in preparation for the potential outbreak wherever it might be statewide. Because it is so difficult to obtain and bring over and it's getting very, very expensive. We are doing what we can do to bring it in.

The problem is, Jonathan, what was the problem with citric acid when it gets wet?

Yeah, so, yeah. So citric, you know, obviously food grade has some shelf life issues, and particularly it's essentially like a crystal. So if it gets really humid, it can kind of like turn into, like, bricks. So it's very hard to like, basically put into this, into a system. And, you know.

Thanks, thanks

Thanks Chair. It kind of folds together a little bit. But, Director, you're talking about Federal Government and the federal funding. Hawaii's long been, you know, going back to the-the graphics that we're looking at, the nets, that looking Hawaii- and this is what I said to the Secretary of Ag.

We get treated like we're just outside the U.S. not inside the U.S. what is the relationship with Department of Ag Federal at this point as far as cleaning that up? And also kind of on the heels of that is the public education side.

We talked about control, but if we're not telling the public that we're doing this, I think we do have a cultural thing. People are proud of it, but they don't know what's going on. So how is that being communicated? And I'm not exactly sure who to ask.

The person here that knows the Most about Part 318 of CFR, the territory rule, the fruit fly rule, probably Jonathan is here only because he has more history with it. And to your point, we do meet with APHIS,

I want to say once a week during the shutdown, it kind of slowed down, but we're resurrecting it. Very good. We get it. We are a state. They get it. We don't need to be. We have bananas, we have bank.

Secretary of Treasury said the other day, started a speech since we don't grow coffee and bananas, was like, excuse me? So we have work to do, but we're making progress. We have a better relationship. First thing we did was let Secretary Besson know, hey, you know what? Hello.

You'll never have one of our bananas because it's the best in the world. But part 318 says we can't ship it to you. So we're making progress. You were there.

Yeah, I was. That's why I don't think we're making progress.

Oh, yes. With 318 we're almost getting wasabi in your constituent. Almost, close.

So real quick, Senator. So I think. I think the biggest thing as it relates to. I think that interaction which really separates us from New Zealand is that they're a country, we're a state. And, you know, as Chair said, you know, federal preemption is a problem. And one of the biggest challenges with it is that. Right.

It's, it's designed very much so for, you know, very large states such as California and you know, like. So internally, like, at least at the state level, we have a very good working relationship with, you know, USTA, CBP, US Fish and Wildlife Services, like that. And, and, you know, we meet quarterly with them.

There's something HIRAC, I can't remember what that. But anyway, it's all the regulatory guys. We meet, you know, we discuss a lot of things and you know, and we, we try to, you know, break down the walls as much as we can legally, you know, to work around.

Like, a lot of times, you know, there's issues and it's, you know, you, you, you find ways to get there. And ultimately, because you have this like, overarching issue as it relates to like, these bigger agricultural states, I'm not sure the best way to manage it.

We have been, I think, trying to utilize, I think, some of the existing regulations to try to manage foreign commerce. So, you know, with like, the route CA stuff, they were able to, you know, using the Napa process of not, not authorized pending pest risk analysis to kind of prohibit importation of certain goods.

So I think there are ways to utilize some of the existing systems to help protect Hawaii. And, you know, they're very targeted, but I think a comprehensive fix through the plant protection. I'm not really certain how the best way to do that is, you know, congressional delegation, like Chair said. I think, I think that there's-

We're trying to figure out ways to do it. And I think some of the processes, like I think Chair mentioned, like with wasabi, they've recently done avocado. The citrus may be moving potentially for export.

So, so it, it's trying to figure out how to, like, I guess, bypass some of the logjam to use some of the existing processes to enable very specific goods to move.

And, and it's, it's having the resources for those industries to be able to go through the risk assessment process because it takes a lot of research and time and effort, and they don't necessarily have that and neither do we.

Okay, so just real quick, Chair, quick follow up on that one. PBARC, what's the relationship and how is. That doing right now?

PBARC is way ahead with Biocontrol, and-

They've helped us out a lot. I know that but given all the cuts that are going through, does that look solid right now as far as you guys know? And is your working relationship stayed the same or?

I'm going to say yes. I think PBARC's working relationship with Federal Government maybe needs to be a little bit strengthened. I mean, we've been advocating, we've been advocating for money for PBARC.

Okay, so that's the weakness I'm concerned about.

Yeah. I think that just to follow up to that strategic component, you know, in your meetings with DLNR, DLT, DOT. Are you guys at those meetings?

Have the ability to come to conclusions versus just not more like, okay, Jonathan's gonna research some more about the Coqui frogs and where they are or you know, DLNR is gonna look at what impact aquarium fish introductions into our water bodies are. You know what I mean? Like come up with.

Do you guys have the tools and the frameworks in those strategic meetings to be like, we're gonna discontinue buying super expensive and super hard to procure and eating up a million man hours with citric acid spraying, which is like, you know, I feel like that is a lot of window dressing at this point because we're not eradicating Coqui frogs.

I mean, do you just. Do you feel like you could eradicate Coqui frogs on any of the islands in those kinds of manual methods outside of biocontrol?

So I guess as it relates to, I think at the island level, the existing tools are not conducive for island wide eradication. I mean that's the truth.

Go with our friend in Mililani.

Yeah, no, no. But again, I think going back to. I think that comment right. You know, Oahu particularly has had numerous established populations of Coqui frogs, big and small, you know, generally, you know, not, you know, size of a mountain. But there have been, I think was it east range military?

I don't remember when that was, but that was like 15 acres and using the existing tools that the population was eradicated.

And, and I think to going back to the point I think you're going at is I think the, the tool that we're using was designed as a quarantine treatment to facilitate movement, not necessarily as an area wide control tool.

And we're kind of like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. And trying to get more effective tools for uses that aren't necessarily designed for quarantine. And so, for example, PISC had funding and there was a lot of research projects that were emphasized.

Roxanna Myers, POB, there was a lot of research and this is kind of one of the first time, which is obviously funding from the Legislature that enabled to again create more tools in the toolbox. And I think right now we're kind of like, I don't. One arm behind-behind your back and you're trying to box with somebody. Right?

You're, you're, you're against, you know, you don't have that advantage. And I think, right. Getting that research funds out, giving ourselves the ability to utilize information better, to do things more efficiently is something that we don't do too well. And, and again, obviously those funds got to go out, those research projects got to happen.

But you know, there's projects for LFA, there's projects for beating longhorn beetle, there's projects for Coqui and right. And, and those things may help and like, and one of them is treatments. One of the, one of the proposals does.

Looking at treatments and one of the LFA projects is for better potential, better dates so that, you know, you can find them better. All those things make it better. And again, we're using what we know works. We just haven't done a lot of work on making them better. And I think we gotta.

And it's trying to figure out that with the ability to like, kind of. Okay, you know, it's not gonna work, at this point because again, I think we, we look at it, I think not necessarily at an island scale, given the scope, can you eradicate? And again, LFA.

There's been a lot of places on Oahu and other islands where you've been enabled to eradicate LFA. You know, in, in a, you know, you know, always has done, everybody has done some. But can you do it on the entire state? That's probably a bomb control issue. And again, that's getting to suppression.

Yeah, no, I'm just like I said those a lot of the insects and the pests.

And Coqui frog is not one that, you know, that bugs people but hurts like our agriculture less than like LFA or QLB or spittleweed and you know, just, you know, those kinds of things. Like do you have the strategic framework to be like, hey, here's, here's everybody together.

We're spending all this resource on, on manually trying to spray little areas. Maybe that's better. We can spend a tenth of that in a public outreach campaign and you can come pick up some citric acid or whatever. But our time and resources might be better spent.

And I'm using the Coqui frog, LFA that might be better spent with instead of a million dollars at Terminix to go spray a place for four months, you know, and then the board, you know, that's completely useless.

And money poured down the drain when your neighbor's ants just crawl right back over or they drift down from the Albizia across the street.

Versus just giving the Ant Lab money to teach community groups to keep spreading that word, to have again that, that frictionless outreach that we want to just have. Invasive species become a community problem or a community resolution level because the state can't solve everybody's problems. We can't get into the gulches.

We can't, you know, that strategic framework, are we thinking in that group setting with DLNR and DOT.

Representative, you've given us the tool. It's Act 236. You've made us the tip of the spear. We meet with people. We prevent the double dipping. To your point about the LFA, it was because the residences were complaining. So we used the. We deployed it the way we thought would be the quickest, the most widespread and the most effective.

But you've given us the tool. So we do meet. We do meet. And we have the power and the authority to direct the funds. And to your Hawaii Latin Act, you gave them $500,000 in Act 250. So you did give them the funds to do their work. Our funding is for control mitigation.

Hawaii Ant Lab has their mission to do outreach and instruction. We're following their, you know, whatever the recommendations are. So the idea. You gave us the tool to do that strategic planning. And it's a very useful tool. The dashboard is doing the outreach. We're hoping, you know, the young kids will embrace it.

People in my, my area, you know, my demographic, we would rather do something on phone or, you know, but you've given us the tools and you've probably seen our ads on TV.

That's another tool we use.

Do people still watch TV?

I do. Come on, yeah.

Okay, good.

Yeah, no, I just.

Thank you.

I got one more question. This is just a clarifying question. So one of the provisions in Act 236 is the ability for the Department to declare a biosecurity emergency. And I know when Act 236 was signed into law, there was some confusion over how that would be used and when the Department would-

So could you just share with the committees how you envision that power moving forward and what circumstances you would actually use it for?

I would make a parallel. After Act 236 passed, there were signs everywhere, states of fascists. They're coming in and taking our. You know, but there's a process and the processes and intense and long and fair.

If we take something from you, we give it back to you or if it's been infested so badly that we have to destroy it, you get paid for that. There's a process. And so I'll let. John. I don't know. Jonathan, I think has been more involved in the biosecurity emergency thing.

But when I go to neighborhood watch meetings, which we do a lot, all of us do. It's, I know we need to do a public service announcement, we need to do an op ed, we need to do an editorial explaining what this power is.

It is kind of sort of like when you hear a gaming, when someone's raided a gaming operation, you know, it's there, it's not doing good things. And so when you have enough evidence and you go there, that's what the bio, that's what the emergency tool is like.

You know, a neighbor, you say, hey, I see a bunch of snakes in that neighbor's yard and you say, I don't have any snakes. But you know that he has snakes. So that emergency lets us get. Go through the process, enter the property, confiscate the evidence and take. Take the process to where we have to do.

Nobody, Nobody. You know, if I make that parallel with the illegal gambling machines, that's not quite right, but it's similar. You know, something bad's going on, nobody's fessing up to it. We have to take action. Jonathan, you have. Oh, Richard, you want?

Chair Chun, I guess that depending on what kind of invasive species or pest we are concerning about, for example, any pest or invasive species we are able to control and mitigate based on our existing interim rule or quarantine methodology. And that's not the case. We can declare the emergency, biosecurity emergency.

However, right now we have the Federal Government is really concerning about new screw one from Mexico and coming into the US territory in that case that their impact is going to be very wide and significant for everything, all of the animal health and then our overall agricultural industry. The impact is massive.

That case and also this disease is spreading very quickly that case we have to utilize the state emergency process. So we can stop in the beginning not waiting until we see the widespread because it's just depending on the speed of the spread.

For example, when we have a Covid spreading so quickly every country and everywhere, any age groups, that case is the best example. We have to utilize our tool.

So Sharon you said that, you know, we've given you the tools. And so based on the current budget, and Act 231 and 236 requirements, is the Department on track in terms of the implementation timeline?

We are with one exception. It's very difficult to hire. The process to hire has been speeded up with rapid recruitment events and DHRD has been very accommodating and even creative and innovative. It's still the pool of people that we have to recruit from.

We know they're there, but how do we get them to apply and goes the process? I can give you an example. Somebody, somebody I was talking to said, I told my niece, hey, it's really good benefits. The state will take care of you. And she said, uncle, benefits don't pay my rent.

So we do have to start raising the salary that we offer to this young group in order to attract them because they got to pay their rent, you know, and you say, hey, in 20 years you can retire and you have a pension. It's like they turn you off.

So that's where we need help, is to raising the salaries of the people that we need to hire and attract. I mean, every day we find a perfect candidate, we interview them, we put them through them and they say, oh no, no thanks, I can't pay my rent.

So my follow up question, you will be coming to the Legislature for further more resources in terms of.

Absolutely. I look at him.

All right, thank you.

No, I take it offline.

Okay, yeah, same thing. All right, well, thank you very much for being here, Arnold, Ag chair and also all the partners who are kind of committed to this work. Thank you for also being in the room. Really appreciate it.

Yes, mahalo.

Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

With that I adjourn this briefing.