Manta Pacific Research Foundation 2009 Legislative Update
February 11, 2009

What happened so far?

Honolulu, HI - February 2, 2009
You may have thought that February 2 was Groundhog Day, but it was actually Manta Ray Day! On that day, the Water, Land, and Ocean Resources Committee (WLO) of the House of Representatives reviewed testimony on HB366, the House Manta Ray Conservation Bill. MPRF directors, manta researchers, and state agencies were there in person to testify in support of the Bill. Testimony that was sent directly to the Committee was also reviewed. The members recommended that the Bill be passed with amendments and the votes were 12 "Ayes" and 1 "Excused". All of the submitted testimony has been made available online. We at MPRF were thrilled to see so many familiar names and that people took the time to write in. The outpouring of support was really overwhelming. Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to write in with your comments and support and we encourage everyone to read what is available.

Although the amendments are supposed to be added within a day or two of the hearing, things at the Capitol are got little bit behind and they were not available for review until Tuesday of the following week. In a surprising turn of events, along with some minor editorial changes, the text of the Bill was changed to say "This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020" or over 11 years from now. Surprise! After a few deep breaths, we've learned that it's common to keep the Effective Date "flawed" to keep discussion going on the Bill and they have until the House/Senate Conference on the Bill to correct the date. Who knew! We'll be watching for those corrections.

Opposition to the bill came from three individuals connected to worldwide aquarium industry and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). One, a faculty member at the Hawaii Institute for Marine Biology, feels the bill would interfere with (his) "legitimate research and educational goals" including "collecting some animals for display in aquariums". This is not true since a legitimate research institute would be able to obtain a permit for research purposes. The bill would actually promote research and educational opportunities by protecting our wild population of manta rays in Hawaii. The State DLNR supports the protection of manta rays in general, but would prefer manta rays to be protected under the administrative rule process. This was the same argument DLNR used when the bill was first introduced in 2005. In the years since we have seen no protection for manta rays, but we have seen two separate groups wanting to collect manta rays in Hawaii. Manta rays do not have the time to wait another five years for DLNR. Legislative action is required now.

After much celebration on our part, we remembered that the legislative process is necessarily a long one, and this is only the first step, so now it's time to regroup and get on with it and keep on swimming! See what you can do to help our efforts below.

What happens next?

HB366 is referred to 2 Committee's (WLO, JUD) and SB394 is referred to 3 Committee's (WTL, ENE, JGO). That means we have 1 Committee down and 4 more to go! These Committee's have an abundance of other work to do too. There were 1,690 Senate Bills introduced this year and 1,843 House Bills for a total count of 3,533 Bills for our Legislature to deal with - we know our legislators are working hard! The manta conservation Bills are just 2 in this "Sea of Bills". With this amount of work to be done, there may not be "time" for the other Committee's to even hear the manta bills if they are not deemed important enough compared to others. It comes down to a popularity contest. We need mantas to be popular!

So the first step is to tell our Legislators that these bills are important to us and deserve their attention and ask them to schedule a hearing. Then the next first step is to submit testimony for the hearing. Only 1 out of 10 bills makes it to a general vote, so massive public support is needed all along the way.

What can you do?

Send email to the Committee Chairperson to ask them to schedule a hearing for the manta bills, HB366 and SB394. You can use these links here to email them:
House JUD Committee -
Chairperson Rep Jon Riki Karamatsu (email: repkaramatsu@Capitol.hawaii.gov)
Vice-Chair Rep Ken Ito (email: repito@Capitol.hawaii.gov)
Senate WTL Committee -
Chairperson Sen Clayton Hee (email: senhee@Capitol.hawaii.gov)
Vice-Chair Sen Jill N. Tokuda (email: sentokuda@Capitol.hawaii.gov)
Senate ENE Committee -
Chairperson Sen Mike Gabbard (email: sengabbard@Capitol.hawaii.gov)
Vice-Chair Sen J. Kalani English (email: senenglish@Capitol.hawaii.gov)
Senate JGO Committee -
Chairperson Sen Brian T. Taniguchi (email: sentaniguchi@Capitol.hawaii.gov)
Vice-Chair Sen Dwight Y. Takamine (email: sentakamine@capitol.hawaii.gov)

We need our legislators to know that this issue is important to the people of Hawaii, and to all the people around the world who visit Hawaii and the manta rays and feel it is important to protect the great creatures of the ocean. We have waited long enough - send them email now!

What can MPRF do to make this easier for everyone?

Once one of the Bills has been scheduled for it's next hearing, testimony is submitted again. Yup - even though you may have submitted for the WLO Committee already, it needs to be submitted 4 more times. And Yup, you can't do it ahead of time, you can only do it during the short window of time between when the Bill is scheduled for a hearing, and when it is actually heard at the Committee meeting.

If you choose to give us your permission, you can send MPRF your testimony now and we will submit it on your behalf at the appropriate hearing time(s). Please send email and/or documents to testimony@mantapacific.org and we will submit it for you when a hearing has been scheduled.

And remember that if you are submitting testimony, don't forget to mention that we want protection now, not in 2020.

Links:

Text of Amended HB366 - referred to WLO, JUD
Text of WLO Committee Report - sent to the speaker of the House
Text of SB394 - referred to WTL, JGO
Get Status of Bills
House WLO Committee Members - heard HB366
House JUD Committee Members - hearing HB366
Senate WTL Committee Members - hearing SB394
Senate ENE Committee Members - hearing SB394
Senate JGO Committee Members - hearing SB394