STAND. COM. REP. NO.  94-16

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

RE:   H.B. No. 2676

      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 Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 2676 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to assist and support persons who want to be farmers to meet the challenges faced by prospective farmers by mandating and funding the Agribusiness Incubator Program of the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources to establish a five-year Energy Independent Farming Community Pilot Project (Pilot Project) that shall, among other things:

(1)  Be owned and initially financed by the State and managed by a manager appointed by the Dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources;

(2)  Contain land, housing, and shared facilities for agricultural purposes, with lease rents set in an amount designed to finance the costs of the Pilot Project; and

     (3)  Be energy and water independent.

The University of Hawaii System, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and several concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Department of Agriculture and a concerned individual submitted comments on this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting the amounts appropriated for the manager position and for planning the Pilot Project to facilitate further discussion.

     Should the Committee on Finance deliberate this measure further, your Committee on Agriculture respectfully requests that it consider appropriating $100,000 for the manager position and $50,000 for planning the Pilot Project.

     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. 2676, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2676, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Higher Education.

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

____________________________

CLIFT TSUJI, Chair