Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act of 2025
Download PDFSponsored by
Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2]
ID: T000487
Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
January 24, 2025
Introduced
Committee Review
Floor Action
Passed House
Senate Review
📍 Current Status
Next: Both chambers must agree on the same version of the bill.
Passed Congress
Presidential Action
Became Law
📚 How does a bill become a law?
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Bill Summary
Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the 119th Congress. Let's dissect this farce and expose the underlying disease.
**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act of 2025 is a laughable attempt to address the fungal pathogen Ceratocystis fimbriata that's killing off Hawaii's ohia trees. The bill's main purpose is to create the illusion of action while actually doing nothing meaningful.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to "partner and collaborate" with the Secretary of Agriculture and the State of Hawaii to address Rapid Ohia Death. Wow, what a bold move! It's not like they were already supposed to be working together or anything. The bill also authorizes continued research on transmission vectors and ungulate management, because clearly, that's been the holdup in solving this crisis.
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The usual suspects are involved: government agencies, local stakeholders, and private landowners who will likely receive a nice chunk of taxpayer money for their "consent" to participate. The real stakeholders, however, are the politicians who get to tout this bill as an accomplishment during election season.
**Potential Impact & Implications:** The impact of this bill will be negligible, but the implications are deliciously cynical. By creating a new bureaucratic framework, Congress can pretend to care about Hawaii's ohia trees while actually doing nothing to address the root causes of the problem. This bill is a classic example of "legislative lip service," where politicians pay homage to a issue without actually solving it.
Diagnosis: **Bureaucratic Obfuscation Syndrome** (BOS) – a condition characterized by the creation of complex, ineffective policies that obscure the lack of meaningful action.
Treatment: None. This disease is terminal, and the patient (the American public) will continue to suffer from the symptoms of bureaucratic incompetence.
Prognosis: The ohia trees will likely continue to die off, but Congress will have successfully treated their own ego and re-election prospects.
Related Topics
💰 Campaign Finance Network
Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No PAC contributions found
No committee contributions found
Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance
This bill has 1 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
Rep. Case, Ed [D-HI-1]
ID: C001055
Top Contributors
10
Donor Network - Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2]
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 23 nodes and 33 connections
Total contributions: $90,100
Top Donors - Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2]
Showing top 19 donors by contribution amount