# H.R. 375 (119th): Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act of 2025

Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act of 2025 This bill establishes requirements to research and control Rapid Ohia Death, which is the disease caused by the fungal pathogen known as Ceratocystis fimbriata that affects the tree of the species Metrosideros polymorpha . Specifically, the Department of the Interior must partner with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Hawaii to control and address Rapid Ohia Death. In addition, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Forest Service Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry must continue to research Rapid Ohia Death vectors and transmission. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must continue to partner with USDA, Hawaii, and local stakeholders to manage ungulates (e.g., certain mammals such as deer) in Rapid Ohia Death control areas on federal, state, and private land, with the consent of private landowners. Finally, the Forest Service must provide (1) financial assistance to prevent the spread of the fungus and to restore the native forests of Hawaii, and (2) staff and necessary infrastructure funding to the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry to research the fungus.

## How this bill is scored

Tier: no Tier 1 record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Lane: environmental_protection. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: invasive_species. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: native_forest_restoration. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: stewardship. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: wildlife_management. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Tier 1 sign-off: no record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Stored polarity: mixed. Only tags the rules mark scoreable on a mixed bill are scored. A yea can draw a penalty or a credit according to the tag. A nay on a tag scored as good can draw a penalty.
Roll 24: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass. Vote type: final_passage.
Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The bill is an ordinary, prudential conservation measure. It advances stewardship of native forests and disease control, with no named moral harm advanced or restrained. It carries no real moral concern in its operative text, but it is a routine federal environmental program whose wisdom and funding levels are prudential questions rather than moral verdicts, so 'mixed' is the appropriate high-level classification rather than 'good' or 'evil'.
Theological note: The bill concerns stewardship of creation: protecting native Hawaiian forests from a destructive pathogen through research, coordinated management, and restoration. Scripture grounds human care for the land in dominion exercised as stewardship, and the measure's respect for private landowner consent bears on property and lawful authority. This is issue relevance only; it names no direct moral evil.

## Recorded votes

Roll 24: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass. Yea 359 · Nay 62 · Other 11.

HTML: https://justmeasure.org/bill/hr-375-119/