Hawaii's dying forests get a federal rescue plan—no strings attached
S. 85 — Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act of 2025 · Filed by Mazie Hirono (D-HI) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jan 14, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the federal government—specifically the Interior Department, Agriculture Department, and U.S. Geological Survey—to partner with Hawaii to combat Rapid Ohia Death, a fungus that has killed over 1 million native trees. The bill authorizes $5 million per year through 2036 for research on the fungus, management of wild ungulates that may spread it, restoration of native forests, and development of disease-resistant tree varieties.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward federal-state collaboration on fungal disease research and native forest restoration. It is a public-health environmental measure with no deregulatory, tax, or liability-shield components.
What the text implies
- The bill authorizes $5M/year for 11 years ($55M total) but does not mandate appropriation—Congress must fund it annually, creating uncertainty in long-term restoration efforts.
- Ungulate management on private land (section 5) may require coordination with private landowners whose cooperation is not guaranteed by statute, potentially limiting effectiveness.
- The bill does not specify enforcement mechanisms or timelines for research milestones, leaving implementation details to agency discretion.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill funds scientific research and ecosystem restoration addressing a documented ecological crisis in Hawaii with no apparent private carve-outs or liability shields. Citizens benefit from forest preservation, native species recovery, and transparent federal-state collaboration on a public-health environmental problem.
Who stands to gain
- U.S. Geological Survey (research funding)
- U.S. Forest Service (research and restoration funding)
- Agricultural Research Service (research funding)
- Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (research infrastructure)
Named in the bill
Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Agricultural Research Service, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, State of Hawaii, Ceratocystis (fungus)
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Jan 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jan 14, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,178 characters) on Aug 17, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Hawaii's dying forests get a federal rescue plan—no strings attached” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s85 Report an error
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