II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 85
To require the Secretary of the Interior to partner and collaborate with
the Secretary of Agriculture and the State of Hawaii to address Rapid
Ohia Death, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY14, 2025
Ms. H
IRONOintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Interior to partner and
collaborate with the Secretary of Agriculture and the
State of Hawaii to address Rapid Ohia Death, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Continued Rapid Ohia 4
Death Response Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds that— 7
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•S 85 IS
(1) the fungus Ceratocystis, known as ‘‘Rapid 1
Ohia Death’’, has killed more than 1,000,000 native 2
trees in the State; and 3
(2) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through 4
the Chief of the Forest Service and the Adminis-5
trator of the Agricultural Research Service, has pro-6
vided funding and staff— 7
(A) to identify and detect Rapid Ohia 8
Death; 9
(B) to prevent the spread of Rapid Ohia 10
Death; 11
(C) to identify Ohia trees that are resist-12
ant to Rapid Ohia Death; and 13
(D) to propagate trees that are resistant to 14
Rapid Ohia Death in order to restore the native 15
forests of the State. 16
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 17
In this Act: 18
(1) R
APID OHIA DEATH .—The term ‘‘Rapid 19
Ohia Death’’ means the fungus described in section 20
2(1) that has killed more than 1,000,000 native 21
trees in the State. 22
(2) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 23
of Hawaii. 24
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SEC. 4. COLLABORATION. 1
The Secretary of the Interior shall partner and col-2
laborate with the Secretary of Agriculture and the State 3
to address Rapid Ohia Death. 4
SEC. 5. SUSTAINED EFFORTS. 5
(a) T
RANSMISSION.—The Secretary of the Interior, 6
acting through the Director of the United States Geologi-7
cal Survey, shall continue to conduct research on Rapid 8
Ohia Death vectors and transmission. 9
(b) U
NGULATEMANAGEMENT.—The Secretary of the 10
Interior, acting through the Director of the United States 11
Fish and Wildlife Service, shall continue to partner with 12
the State and with local stakeholders to manage ungulates 13
in Rapid Ohia Death control areas on Federal, State, and 14
private land. 15
(c) R
ESTORATION AND RESEARCH.—The Secretary 16
of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest 17
Service, shall continue to provide— 18
(1) financial assistance, including to the Sec-19
retary of the Interior— 20
(A) to prevent the spread of Rapid Ohia 21
Death; and 22
(B) to restore the native forests of the 23
State; and 24
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•S 85 IS
(2) staff and necessary infrastructure funding 1
to the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry to con-2
duct research on Rapid Ohia Death. 3
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 4
For each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036, there 5
is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 to carry out 6
this Act, including for activities carried out by the Sec-7
retary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, or 8
both. 9
Æ
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