STAND. COM. REP. NO.  762-16

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

RE:   H.B. No. 2555

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2555, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INDUSTRIAL HEMP,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize industrial hemp to be grown as part of research conducted under an agricultural pilot program or other agricultural research to study the growth, cultivation, or marketing of industrial hemp under specific agreement with and under the authority of the Board of Agriculture.

ILWU Local 142; Maui Hemp Institute for Research and Innovation; the Kihei Community Association; We Are One, Inc.; Vote Hemp; Nellie's Rentals; the Hawaii Farmers Union United; and numerous individuals testified in support of this measure.  The Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Attorney General, and one individual provided comments.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2555, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair