SUPPORT HB1601: HISC Funding Under DLNR

/

What does HB1601 do?

HB1601 restores Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council (HISC) funding back to the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), where the Council is housed, and who has a long and proven track record of ensuring funds reach HISC programs and community partners protecting Hawaiʻi from invasive species and their impacts.

Why is this needed?

Last year, an omnibus biosecurity measure inexplicably gave all of HISC’s funding for FY26-27 to the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity (DAB) to administer, instead of to the normal recipient, DLNR. This risks significant delays and bureaucracy that could severely hinder Hawaiʻi's ability to respond quickly against invasive species. 

DAB has limited experience and expertise in the breadth of HISC’s work and is still struggling to implement the new authorities and staff positions to implement the new authorities and staff positions it was given last year, and has a track record of inadequately administering biosecurity funding and ignoring invasive species threats generally. Putting DAB in charge of handling HISC funding on top of its ongoing challenges means HISC’s highly effective partners and programs, including but not limited to the island invasive species committees, 643PEST.org, and the Plant Pono Program, could be left in financial limbo for months, if not indefinitely.    

HB1601 would address this problem by putting HISC funding back under DLNR, which has successfully administered HISC funds for years, has extensive institutional knowledge of where HISC funding needs to go, and has staff assigned to manage and distribute the funding. 

HB1601 will be heard in its first committee on Friday, January 30 at 9:30am in the House Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems in room 325. Please take a moment to support this simple, common-sense fix that ensures critical invasive species funding flows directly to frontline biosecurity efforts, without bureaucratic delays.

Sample testimony

Aloha Chair Chun, Vice-Chair Kusch, and members of the House Agriculture & Food Systems Committee, 

My name is [Name], and I am writing in strong support of HB1601.

This bill would restore funding for the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council to the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), where the Council is housed, and where such funding has been successfully administered for years. 

DLNR and its dedicated staff have the experience and expertise to ensure Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council (HISC) funds get to the programs that we depend on, to protect our homes, farms, watersheds, and ocean waters from invasive pests. These include the highly effective island invasive species committees, 643PEST.org, the Hawaiʻi Weed Risk Assessment, and the Plant Pono Program, among others.

In contrast, the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity (DAB) has limited expertise in the breadth of HISC’s work, continues to struggle with implementing the new authorities and staff positions it was given last year, and has a track record of inadequately administering biosecurity funding and ignoring invasive species threats generally. Having DAB administer FY26-27 HISC funds on top of the Department’s current challenges, as the law currently requires, would only hinder HISC’s partners and programs with potential funding disruptions and bureaucracy - at a time when Hawaiʻi’s biosecurity crises need faster responses, not undue delays. 

HB1601 will help ensure that invasive species response funds are deployed in a timely, transparent, and effective manner. I urge you to please PASS this measure

Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "HB1601" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! 

    Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)