STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3554

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1997

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1997 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Implement the recommendation of the Hawaii Agriculture Workforce Advisory Board that the State should create a K-12 agriculture workforce development pipeline initiative to conduct training on all islands for teachers and school administrators in agricultural self-sufficiency; and

     (2)  Appropriate funds for the development, operation, and implementation of the initiative, including the hiring of a coordinator and workforce development specialist.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Department of Education; Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Hawaii State Teachers Association; Hawai‘i Farm Bureau; Hawaii Fish Company, Inc.; Hawaii Farmers & Ranchers United; Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; Ponoholo Ranch Limited; and eighty-eight individuals.

     Your Committees find that Act 99, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, established the Hawaii Agriculture Workforce Advisory Board to advise the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations on, among other things, projects and programs recommended to promote the expansion and development of the State's agricultural industry.  One recommendation of the Advisory Board is for the State to create an agriculture workforce development pipeline initiative to conduct training on all islands for teachers and school administrators in agricultural self-sufficiency.  This measure would implement that recommendation.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adopting clarifying language suggested by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations regarding the duties of the coordinator of the K-12 agriculture workforce development pipeline initiative to carry out the purposes of the initiative;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1997, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1997, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair