STAND. COM. REP. NO.
Honolulu, Hawaii
APR 0 3 2024
RE: S.R. No. 164
S.D. 1
Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi
President of the Senate
Thirty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2024
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was
referred S.R. No. 164 entitled:
"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR TO
CONDUCT A PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE'S PLANT INDUSTRY DIVISION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the
Office of the Auditor to:
(1) Conduct a performance audit of the Department of
Agriculture's Plant Industry Division; and
(2) Submit a report of their findings and recommendations to
the Legislature before the Regular Session of 2025.
Your Committee received comments on this measure from the
Department of Agriculture and Office of the Auditor.
Your Committee finds that the State's mandated biosecurity
program is delivered by the Plant Quarantine Branch within the
Department of Agriculture's Plant Industry Division. Your
Committee further finds that the Plant Pest Control Branch, also
within the Department of Agriculture's Plant Industry Division,
has been utilizing staff and operational capacity from the Plant
Quarantine Branch to carry out its duties. Your Committee
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recognizes that additional resources are essential for the
Department of Agriculture to fully meet its obligations to protect
the State from invasive species. The performance audit requested
in this measure will provide the information necessary for
decision-makers to allocate the resources necessary to strengthen
the State's biosecurity system and mitigate risks associated with
invasive species.
Your Committee further recognizes that the Auditor has the
duty to conduct postaudits of agency transactions, accounts,
programs, and performance pursuant to section 23-4, Hawaii Revised
Statutes. Your Committee acknowledges the concerns raised by the
Auditor that the scope of the audit requested by this measure is
not only broad and undefined, but also includes the evaluation of
operational capacity, which is beyond the Auditor's purview.
Therefore, this measure needs to be amended to address these
concerns.
Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Narrowing the scope of the performance audit requested
to apply to the Plant- Pest Control Branch and Plant
Quarantine Branch, rather than the entire Plant Industry
Division;
(2) Deleting language that requested the performance audit
to include:
(A) Follow-ups to:
(i) Report No. 17-05, entitled "Audit of Hawai‘i
Department of Agriculture's Plant Quarantine
Branch"; and
(ii) Report No. 20-21, entitled "Follow Up on
Recommendations from Report No. 17-05, Audit
of Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture's Plant
Quarantine Branch";
(B) Reports on the implementation status of the action
items of the Hawaii Interagency Biosecurity Plan;
and
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(C) An evaluation of the true operational capacity of
the Department of Agriculture to achieve its
assigned action items established in the Hawaii
Interagency Biosecurity Plan,
and replacing it with language that identifies specific
programs and activities within the Plant Pest Control
Branch and Plant Quarantine Branch to be audited by the
Office of the Auditor;
(3) Deleting references to the Hawaii Interagency
Biosecurity Plan;
(4) Amending its title to reflect its amended purpose; and
(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the
purposes of clarity and consistency.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this
report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R.
No. 164, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the
form attached hereto as S.R. No. 164, S.D. 1.
Respectfully submitted on
behalf of the members of the
Committee on Agriculture and
Environment,
MIKE GABBARD, Chair
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 The Senate
Thirty-Second Legislature
State of Hawaii
Record of Votes
Committee on Agriculture and Environment
AEN
Bill / Resolution No.:* Committee Referral: Date:
U/i /
5R UM
The Committee is reconsidering its previous decision on this measure.
If so, then the previous decision was to: ________________________________________________
The Recommendation is: /
Pass, unamended Pass, with amendments __ Hold __ Recommit
2312 2311 2310 2313
Members Aye Aye (WR) Nay Excused
GABBARD. Mike (C)
RICHARDS. III. Herbert M. “Tim” (VC)
DECOITE. Lynn
RHOADS. Karl
AWA. Brenton
Recommendation:
TOTAL 0 2,
P5;LAdopted __ Not Adopted
Chair’s or Designee^s^&^aturej^_^^^^^^^^^^^^____^___^^
Distribution: Original Yellow Pink Goldenrod
File with Committee Report Clerk's Office Drafting Agency Committee File Copy
*Only one measure per Record of Votes
Revised: 12/27/23