A Senate bill seeking funding to control albizia trees on Hawaii Island has stalled after failing to cross over to the state House of Representatives.
Proponents of the bill say they were surprised by the failure of the measure, in light of the devastation wrought by the invasive trees following Tropical Storm Iselle.
“I was shocked,” said Springer Kaye, manager of the Big Island Invasive Species Committee. “The Big Island has been trying to get some relief on this issue from the Legislature for years, and if being hit by a hurricane and having people without power up to three weeks — and possibly altering an election — doesn’t get enough attention on the issue to get it separate funding, I don’t know what will.”
Senate Bill 591 was sponsored by state Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, and sought an appropriation of about $2 million to the Hawaii Invasive Species Council to fund a coordinated management effort of albizia trees on the Big Island and across the state. It was one of a raft of legislation introduced this session to address the rapidly growing trees, which are susceptible to snapping and collapsing in high winds, playing havoc with power lines and anything else unlucky enough to be below them.
Kaye said that Ruderman’s measure was her organization’s favored approach to the albizia problem because it would have put funds in the hands of a statewide organization that could help to bridge the often complicated jurisdictional and land ownership boundaries that prevent individual bodies from pursuing a comprehensive management program.
For instance, she said, “HDOT (Hawaii Department of Transportation) may be limited to working in the narrow roadside easements, but that isn’t broad enough to address a 150-foot tree.”
SB 591 received testimonial support from a variety of government agencies, including the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, the Office of Environmental Quality Control, and the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, as well as Hawaii Electric Light Co., the Hawaiian Shores Community Association, and more.
Ultimately, however, Ruderman’s measure couldn’t gain traction after being referred to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. It failed to pass through the three committee hearings required by the March 12 first crossover deadline to be handed off to the House of Representatives for approval.
In a phone interview Tuesday, the Puna legislator said that his bill died as a result of a tight state budget that allows very little room for new projects.
“The sticking point was money,” he said. “There’s been no real increase in our predicted income for the state over the last year, so any new program or financial ask has to fight over a piece of a nonexistent pie. … It’s not that anyone doesn’t understand the albizia threat, or because there’s a lack of sympathy.”
In addition to SB 591, six other bills seeking funding for albizia control failed to gain traction this session.
Despite the failure of his measure to launch, Ruderman said he is committed to addressing the albizia tree problem in Puna and across the state.
“Fighting albizia would be worth the amount of money spent,” he said.
The senator said he has been in talks with other legislators about the possibility of including a line item in the final state budget to provide funding for albizia control, although he predicted that any such item likely wouldn’t approach the $2 million needed to fully fund the control plan he and the Invasive Species Committee, along with a number of other community partners, are supporting.
“The plan we came up with was to spend approximately $6 million a year for a few years (with the state’s share amounting to $2 million). The first year, we would control albizia along important roadways and power lines,” he said.
Meanwhile, Invasive Species Committee and its partners are continuing control measures on a smaller scale, said Franny Brewer, the committee’s director of communications.
“We’re not giving up,” she said.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.