HB1221 HD2

SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to create a livestock revitalization program to administer and disburse funds to qualified dairy, poultry, and hog farms that apply for and receive, if properly documented, a reimbursement for a specified percentage of each farm's feed expenses.

SECTION 2. The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding a new chapter to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"CHAPTER

LIVESTOCK REVITALIZATION PROGRAM

§ -1 Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Administrative costs" means costs incurred by the department that are associated with reviewing, approving, and recording expenditures and completing any reporting requirements associated with the grant program.

"Department" means the department of agriculture.

"Eggs" means poultry eggs, uncooked in shell.

"Milk" means the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrums, obtained by the milking of healthy cows normally produced or marketed through the channels of the fluid milk trade.

"Poultry" means egg-laying chicks, meat bird chicks, pullets, broilers, fryers, and laying chicken hens.

"Qualified producer" means any person that, at the time of application for and disbursement of funds under this chapter, is in the business of producing:

(1) Milk from a herd located in Hawaii of not fewer than three hundred fifty cows;

(2) Eggs, or poultry for egg production or consumption, from a flock located in Hawaii of not fewer than three thousand poultry; or

(3) Pork from a herd located in Hawaii of not fewer than fifty sows.

§ -2 Grants; conditions and qualifications. (a) Applications for grants by qualified producers shall be submitted on a form furnished by the department and shall be filed with accompanying documentation of animal feed costs; provided that:

(1) The applicant shall comply with applicable federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, age, sexual orientation, or disability;

(2) The applicant shall have applied for or received all applicable licenses or permits;

(3) The applicant shall indemnify and save harmless the State and its officers, agents, and employees from and against any and all claims arising out of or resulting from the feed purchased;

(4) The subsidy shall not be allowed for a year in which, in any three months of the year, the flock or herd size falls below five per cent or more of the required minimum of:

(A) Three thousand poultry;

(B) Three hundred fifty cows; or

and

(5) The department may request an applicant to provide necessary information for the purposes of verifying flock or herd size and feed purchases as deemed necessary.

(b) The applicant shall submit an annual financial statement of farm income and expenses incurred and other supporting documents as deemed necessary by the department that shall be filed with the department within ninety days following the close of the business’s fiscal year after the effective date of this Act.

(1) Sixty per cent of the feed costs incurred for poultry and egg production;

(2) Forty per cent of the feed costs incurred for milk production; or

(3) Fifty per cent of the feed costs incurred for pork production;

provided that feed costs shall be limited to only the feed fed to the qualifying flock or herd and shall not include feed purchases for resale or gift, or the cost of transportation to Hawaii. In no case shall funds be disbursed to a qualified producer when, after evaluation and verification by the department, the annual financial statement indicates a net profit of more than twelve per cent.

(d) Administrative costs shall not exceed three-tenths per cent of the total amount disbursed in any year.

§ -3 Exemption from chapter 42F. The provisions of chapter 42F shall not apply to grants made pursuant to this chapter. All reimbursements shall be made only in accordance with the standards and conditions specified in section -2."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008 and the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 to be disbursed to qualified producers of milk, eggs, poultry, or pork for the cost of feed for dairy cows, poultry, and hogs and administrative costs of the department of agriculture under the livestock revitalization program.

The appropriations made for the purposes authorized in this section shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal biennium for which the appropriations are made; provided that any balance of any appropriation that is unencumbered as of December 31, 2009, shall lapse as of that date.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of agriculture for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1221
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		H.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII