A bill to fund rat lungworm disease research at the University of Hawaii at Hilo is at risk of failing despite passing the state House and Senate.
A bill to fund rat lungworm disease research at the University of Hawaii at Hilo is at risk of failing despite passing the state House and Senate.
The legislation has until the end of today to make it out of a conference committee and receive the blessing of finance leaders in both chambers.
The funding, initially proposed at $695,000, was left out of the proposed budget from Monday. Instead, lawmakers in a budget conference committee put in $1 million to be used throughout two years for the state Department of Health to combat the disease caused by a parasitic nematode spread from rats to slugs and snails and then people.
In most cases, the disease causes flu-like symptoms. Because it affects the central nervous system, it also can cause paralysis and lead to comas or, in rare instances, death.
During a conference committee meeting Thursday, Sen. Kai Kahele, who introduced the bill, and Sen. Russell Ruderman said they don’t oppose the Health Department getting funds, but they noted the expertise is at the university.
“My point is, the Department of Health aside, we need the research and the expertise of the rat lungworm lab has developed and is developing for the entire state,” Ruderman said during the meeting, according to a video posted on his Facebook page.
Conference committees are used to sort out differences in legislation that passed the House and Senate.
Kahele, D-Hilo, said during the meeting that he was still waiting to get support from Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda.
He noted another Hawaii Island resident was confirmed to have the disease. That brings the confirmed cases to 13 this year, up from 11 in all of 2016. Seven have been Hawaii Island residents.
In a letter to Tokuda, Kahele said he was respectfully requesting any amount of funding to be released. Tokuda couldn’t be reached for comment.
“They’ve been doing this for years and doing it on a shoestring, bare-bones budget,” Kahele said about UH-Hilo’s Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, which has overseen the research.
The funding appeared to take the Health Department by surprise. A spokeswoman said in an email Thursday that department officials were planning to meet with lawmakers to sort out how they want the funds to be used.
Jill Kuramoto, a Senate spokeswoman, said the money is intended for vector control.
Susan Jarvi, who leads UH-Hilo’s rat lungworm working group, said they have not received funds from the Legislature for research, despite earlier requests.
She said the funds would be used to expand a keiki educational program statewide, test different commercial washes for cleaning produce and develop a bait that could kill the parasites in rats, among other research efforts.
The prospect of the bill dying after getting voted through both chambers was disappointing and frustrating, said Jarvi, a pharmacy professor.
“Without research, we are just going to continue to see case after case after case,” she said. “It’s not going to go away.”
Kahele said he was still encouraging residents to call finance committee leaders in the House and Senate to ask the bill to be funded.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.