STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3084

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2582

       H.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 Water, Land, and Agriculture and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2582, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD SAFETY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish within the Department of Agriculture an Agricultural Food Safety Certification program to support the agricultural industry and assist farmers and ranchers with the compliance requirements of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, North Shore Economic Vitality Partnership, and Hawai‘i Farm Bureau.

     Your Committees find that the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011, and aims to ensure that the United States food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it.  As the FSMA is implemented on the federal level, the State and local farmers and ranchers will be required to meet compliance specifications.  Your Committees further find that an Agricultural Food Safety Certification program may be encompassed within an existing program, such as the Good Agricultural Practices program.

     Your Committees also find that resources will be needed to effectively administer an Agricultural Food Safety Certification program and recommend that if your Committee on Ways and Means chooses to hear this measure, that it consider including an appropriation for the amount requested by the Department of Agriculture.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2582, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair