HI SR126

Requests the Board of Agriculture to review and update the import permit process for all agricultural commodities and submit a report to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the 2019 Regular Session convening.

Directs the review to consider updating Plant Quarantine Branch administrative rules to reflect current industry conditions, adopting a proposed risk-based import framework for aquaculture and expanding it to all import categories, developing best management practices for integration into permit conditions, and updating import permit lists using risk assessments.

Identifies outdated provisions protecting the non-viable pineapple industry in Hawaii Administrative Rules sections 4-70-12 and 4-70-13(a) as examples of rules not reflecting current agricultural status.

Addresses reports of delays in aquaculture import permits exceeding maximum time periods established in section 4-71-4.1, Hawaii Administrative Rules, despite provisions for automatic approval after time limits expire.

Notes that a Department of Agriculture project presented in March 2018 developed a risk-based framework for aquaculture using published scientific data and GIS mapping that could streamline the import permit process.