STAND. COM. REP. NO.  449-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 2466

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 2466 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish use and development standards for farm dwellings and employee housing units on agricultural land.

     Specifically, the measure:

     (1)  Limits the use of farm dwellings and employee housing units to farmers and their immediate family members;

     (2)  Limits the use of employee housing units to employees and their immediate family members; and

     (3)  Establishes standards relating to land area use, square footage, subdivisions, cluster development, and building of farm dwellings and employee housing units.

The Department of Agriculture, Office of Planning, Institute for Human Services, Sierra Club of Hawaii, and one individual submitted testimony in support of the measure.  The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and Hawaii Association of Realtors submitted testimony in opposition to the measure.

     Your Committee finds that allowing higher-valued, nonagricultural uses on agricultural land contributes to the cycle of increasing land values and agricultural disinvestment, which ultimately makes land unaffordable for farming operations.  Your Committee believes that, by ensuring that the people living in farm dwellings and employee housing units actively and currently work on agricultural land upon which the structures are situated, this measure will discourage the nonagricultural residential use of agricultural lands that increase the value of agricultural land.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the square footage limitation for farm dwellings and employing housing units to an unspecified amount; and

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2466, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2466, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Housing.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture,

____________________________

JESSICA WOOLEY, Chair