HB2551 • 2026

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.

Agriculture Budget

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor: NAKAMURA (Introduced by request of another party)
Last action: 2026-05-01
Official status: Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 5:00 PM; Conference Room 411.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.

What This Bill Does

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.
Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression Program; Appropriation ($) Appropriates funds for the Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression Program.
Effective 7/1/3000.
(SD1)

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HD1

Hawaii published version HD1

Plain English: HB2551 HD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.

HB2551 HD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.
NO.
2551 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 H.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE .

SD1

Hawaii published version SD1

Plain English: HB2551 SD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.

HB2551 SD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.
NO.
2551 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 H.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII S.D.

Bill History

2026-05-01 S
Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 5:00 PM; Conference Room 411.
2026-05-01 S
Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 12:45 PM; Conference Room 325.
2026-04-30 S
Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 9:15AM; Conference Room 325.
2026-04-29 S
Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-30-26 9:30AM; Conference Room 325.
2026-04-28 S
Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-29-26 9:30AM; Conference Room 325.
2026-04-24 S
Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-28-26 9:30AM; Conference Room 325.
2026-04-23 S
Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-24-26 11:00AM; Conference Room 325.
2026-04-23 S
Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 810).
2026-04-22 H
House Conferees Appointed: Chun, Kusch Co-Chairs; Matsumoto.
2026-04-20 H
Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 713).
2026-04-20 S
Senate Conferees Appointed: Gabbard Chair; Richards Co-Chair; Awa.
2026-04-16 S
Received notice of disagreement (Hse. Com. No. 599).
2026-04-14 H
House disagrees with Senate amendment (s).
2026-04-10 H
Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 561) in amended form (SD 1).
2026-04-10 S
Report Adopted; Passed Third Reading. Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House.
2026-04-09 S
One Day Notice 04-10-26.
2026-04-09 S
Reported from WAM (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3639) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading.
2026-04-07 S
The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in WAM were as follows: 12 Aye(s): Senator(s) Dela Cruz, Moriwaki, DeCoite, Elefante, Hashimoto, Inouye, Kanuha, Kidani, Kim, Richards, Wakai, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Lee, C..
2026-04-02 S
The committee(s) on WAM will hold a public decision making on 04-07-26 10:31AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference.
2026-03-30 S
Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM.
2026-03-30 S
Reported from AEN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3227) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.
2026-03-23 S
The committee(s) on AEN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in AEN were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Gabbard, Richards, Rhoads, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) DeCoite.
2026-03-20 S
The committee(s) on AEN has scheduled a public hearing on 03-23-26 3:00PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.
2026-03-10 S
Referred to AEN, WAM.
2026-03-10 S
Passed First Reading.
2026-03-10 S
Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 220).
2026-03-06 H
Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Pierick voting no (1) and Representative(s) Perruso, Sayama excused (2). Transmitted to Senate.
2026-03-06 H
Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 928-26), recommending passage on Third Reading.
2026-03-03 H
The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 16 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Perruso, Templo, Yamashita, Alcos, Gedeon, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-02-27 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Tuesday, 03-03-26 2:00PM in House conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-02-20 H
Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Pierick voting no (1) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1).
2026-02-20 H
Reported from AGR (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 597-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.
2026-02-18 H
The committee on AGR recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Chun, Kusch, Kahaloa, Lowen, Perruso, Quinlan, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-02-13 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by AGR on Wednesday, 02-18-26 9:30AM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-02-02 H
Referred to AGR, FIN, referral sheet 6
2026-01-28 H
Introduced and Pass First Reading.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.
Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression Program; Appropriation ($)
Appropriates funds for the Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression Program. Effective 7/1/3000. (SD1)

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

HB2551

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2551

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating
to agriculture
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION 1.
�
The
legislature finds that fruit flies are one of the State's most destructive
agricultural pests.
�
The economic impacts
of fruit fly infestations in Hawaii are severe, leading to millions of dollars
in lost agricultural production and revenue to the State.
�
There are several different fruit flies in
Hawaii, the first of which arrived in 1895.
�

Since fruit flies have no natural predators in Hawaii, their existence
has persisted over the years.
�
The fruit
fly federal quarantine, which was enacted when Hawaii was a United States
territory, still exists in full effect today due to the presence of fruit flies
in the State and their threat to the continental United States' agricultural
sector.
�
This quarantine, however, is a
major hinderance to the State's expansion of diversified agriculture.

����
The legislature further finds that in 1999,
the United States Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service (ARS)
funded a five-year area-wide fruit fly pest management system with the goal to
develop and implement environmentally acceptable, biologically based,
sustainable pest management strategies that reduce the use of harsher
insecticides while suppressing fruit flies to economically manageable levels
for the benefit of Hawaii.
��
This program
was a cooperative partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture,
ARS, college of tropical agriculture and human resilience at the university of
Hawaii at Manoa, and department of agriculture and biosecurity.
�
The area-wide fruit fly program used a
combined approach of field sanitation, protein bait sprays, and male-lure traps
to combat fruit fly infestations.
�
The
program successfully lowered infestation rates to below five per cent for many
crops, increasing yields and marketable products.
�
The program also significantly reduced
insecticide use in some areas.

����
The legislature also finds that the
department of agriculture and biosecurity has contracted with the college of
tropical agriculture and human resilience at the university of Hawaii at Manoa
to reinitiate the area-wide fruit fly suppression program with funding from Act
231, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024.
�
This
initial contract is critical to evaluating the ARS's 1999 protocols, methods,
and chemicals, and to update them to meet current needs.

����
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to
appropriate funds to suppress fruit flies in Hawaii.

����
SECTION 2.
�

There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii
the sum of $1,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year
2026-2027 for an area-wide fruit fly suppression program.

����
The sum appropriated shall be expended by
the department of agriculture and biosecurity for the purposes of this Act.

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SECTION 3.
�

This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2026.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Department
of Agriculture and Biosecurity;
Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression Program,
Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds for the Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression
Program.

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.