SB3028 would require a permit to harvest any forest resource "deemed in need of conservation." This bill is so broadly written that the Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) could arbitrarily decide that any forest species, such as Koa, would require permitting before being harvested. Currently, this is not the case.

Requiring permitting by the DLNR will be detrimental to the Koa industry for the following reasons
• Permitting will limit the availability of Koa for use by craftsmen in Hawaii
• Permitting will discourage land owners from reforesting Koa, because there is no assurance that they could ever receive the permit to harvest it.
• The cost of permitting is undefined in this bill. It could be prohibitively expensive, further discouraging Koa reforestation.
• The timing it would take to submit and receive approval of a permit could further reduce the availability of Koa for use by Hawaii craftsmen. If no permits are granted, then no Koa will be available.
• This bill does not clearly define how the funds received from permitting will be used. Hence, these funds could be taken and used for any government shortfall, not simply conservation/reforestation efforts. You know what happened to our "Rainy Day Fund"!
This bill is different from laws currently on the books which do not require permitting of "deemed forest resources."