Bill Text: HI HCR76 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Financial and Management Audit, Hawaii Invasive Species Council

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2015-04-14 - Referred to WTL, WAM. [HCR76 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2015-HCR76-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	76
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting the auditor to conduct a financial and management audit of the hawaii invasive species council.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, in 2001, the Legislature, pursuant to Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 45, House Draft 1, requested that the Legislative Reference Bureau study the impact of invasive species on the State and its economy; and

 

     WHEREAS, in response to the concurrent resolution, the Legislative Reference Bureau submitted its report, "Filling the Gaps in the Fight Against Invasive Species" to the 2002 Legislature; and

 

     WHEREAS, as part of its study, the Legislative Reference Bureau recommended that a state invasive species coordinator/administrator position be established to spearhead the State's invasive species eradication and mitigation efforts; and

 

     WHEREAS, in response to this recommendation, the Legislature instead established the Hawaii Invasive Species Council; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Invasive Species Council's purpose is to provide policy level direction, coordination, and planning among state departments, federal agencies, and international and local initiatives for the control and eradication of harmful invasive species infestations throughout the State and for preventing the introduction of other invasive species that may be potentially harmful; and

 

     WHEREAS, attached to the Department of Land and Natural Resources for administrative purposes, the Hawaii Invasive Species Council consists of voting representatives from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; the Department of Agriculture; the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; the Department of Health; the Department of Transportation; and the University of Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Invasive Species Council also allocates funding to projects for invasive species control, prevention, outreach, and planning; and

 

WHEREAS, legislative appropriations are the Hawaii Invasive Species Council's only source of funding for projects; and

 

     WHEREAS, the process to fund an invasive species project includes submitting a proposal, discussion of proposals at informal meetings of working groups, quantitative reviews, and a formal public meeting and vote of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council; and

 

     WHEREAS, given the major threat to Hawaii by invasive species and the number of parties that are members of the group, it is crucial that the Hawaii Invasive Species Council be administered efficiently; and

 

     WHEREAS, given the many competing issues involved when addressing invasive species, it is crucial that the Hawaii Invasive Species Council's strategy for allocating funding to projects be efficient, cost-effective, and not used to solely mitigate, but if feasible, eradicate invasive species; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested to perform a financial and management audit of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED as part of the financial audit, the Auditor is requested to investigate the efficiency of the Council's funding allocation strategy to mitigate or eradicate invasive species; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that as part of the audit, the Auditor is requested to make a determination on whether the Hawaii Invasive Species council's current strategy of funding as many mitigation projects as possible as opposed to focusing on fewer projects that would eradicate an invasive species is cost-effective; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Auditor is requested to submit a report of any findings or recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2016; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and the members of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Financial and Management Audit, Hawaii Invasive Species Council