Coffee Plant Health Initiative Amendments Act
Sending Office: Honorable Kaiali'i Kahele
Sent By: Dave.Chun@mail.house.gov

Dear Colleagues:

Please join us in cosponsoring the Coffee Plant Health Initiative Amendments Act (CPHIAA), a bill to address emerging threats to the U.S. domestic coffee industry. The legislation broadens the Coffee Plant Health Initiative (CPHI) to manage all coffee tree pests such as the coffee leaf rust, coffee leaf miner, and coffee wilt. The CPHI, included in the 2014 farm bill, unfortunately was specific only to the coffee berry borer and thus excluded other plant pest research under the CPHI’s narrow scope.

The CPHIAA would permit research and extension grants for purposes of:

• Developing and disseminating science-based tools and treatments to combat plant pests and noxious weeds that impact coffee plants
  
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• Establishing an areawide integrated pest management program in areas affected by invasive plant pests or noxious weeds
  
• Surveying and collecting data on coffee plant production and health
  
• Investigating coffee plant biology, immunology, ecology, genomics, and bioinformatics
  
• Researching factors that may contribute to or be associated with coffee plant immune systems, including
  
• Sublethal effects of insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides on beneficial insects and plants
  
• Development of mitigative and preventative measures to improve habitat conservation and best management practices
  

For additional information or to cosponsor the CPHIAA, please contact Dave (Kahele) at Dave.Chun@mail.house.gov or Mitch (Case) at Mitch.Heidenreich@mail.house.gov.

Kaiali’i Kahele                            Ed Case
Member of Congress              Member of Congress