Report Title:

Waianae Organic Agriculture Center; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates funds for the Waianae Organic Agriculture Center collaborative project between Leeward Community College and Waianae Community Redevelopment Corporation to establish one full-time educational coordinator position and support operating costs.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2236
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO EDUCATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  A food secure community is one in which all people in a community have access to a culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate, diet through nonemergency (or conventional) food sources at all times.  Food insecurity occurs when the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways, is limited or uncertain.  According to the January 2003 Food Security Task Force report, at 33.2 per cent, the Waianae coast of Oahu had the highest reliably-reported prevalence of food insecurity among household residents.

     One response to the high prevalence of food insecurity in Waianae has been the development of a collaborative project between Leeward community college and the Waianae Community Redevelopment Corporation, called the Waianae Organic Agriculture Center.  The Waianae Organic Agriculture Center is a facility created to promote and support increased food security in Waianae through the use of higher education models, applied research, and organic food production in the Waianae community.  The project has secured partial funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and is approaching other federal programs and private foundations to obtain other sources of funding.  However, at this time, additional funding is still needed to cover the Waianae Organic Agriculture Center's operational costs.

     The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to establish one full-time educational coordinator position and fund fifty per cent of operational costs at the Waianae Organic Agriculture Center.

     SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $150,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 to support the Waianae Organic Agriculture Center as follows:

     (1)  $75,000 to cover operational costs; and

     (2)  $75,000 to establish one full-time equivalent (1.00 FTE) permanent educational coordinator position.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

INTRODUCED BY:

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