STAND. COM. REP. NO. 902

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1008

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1008, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAWAII FOOD RESILIENCY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to implement the recommendations of the increased food security and food self-sufficiency strategy.

     More specifically, this measure:

(1)  Establishes the Agricultural Development and Food Resiliency Program within the Department of Agriculture;

(2)  Amends the State's general objectives and policies for the economy within the Hawaii State Plan to include increasing demand for, access to, and production of locally grown foods; and

(3)  Makes appropriations that support food security and self-sufficiency.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Land Use Research Foundation, and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii is the most geographically isolated state in the country.  Approximately ninety-two percent of the food consumed in Hawaii is imported from out-of-state.  Your Committee also finds this is a vulnerability that places Hawaii's residents at risk of shortages in the event of a natural disaster or economic disruption.  Increasing local food production by only ten percent could result in the creation of approximately two thousand three hundred jobs and the retention of millions of dollars in the local economy.  Your Committee believes that increased local food growth and production will help Hawaii prepare for a natural disaster or other catastrophic event.  Your Committee further finds that appropriating moneys into initiatives relating to food security and self-sufficiency will help decrease the State's reliance on imported food.

     Your Committee believes that establishing quantitatively and qualitatively measurable goals are more likely to produce lasting change than general objectives and policies.  Your Committee also believes that lasting change is more likely to result when there is a person or entity designated to produce change and provide oversight.  For example, the renewable portfolio standards established in section 269-92, Hawaii Revised Statutes, are measurable standards that are overseen by an executive agency.  These standards have helped the State move toward its renewable energy goals.  Your Committee believes that, similarly, the State's attempts to move toward food security and self-sufficiency will be more effective if its goals are measurable and there is oversight by a designated entity.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Deleting the provisions that establish and appropriate moneys for the Agricultural Development and Food Resiliency Program;

(2)  Deleting the provisions from the Hawaii State Plan relating to increasing demand for locally grown foods;

(3)  Requiring the Department of Agriculture to establish a strategy to identify measurable goals for increased food security and self-sufficiency, including goals for increasing demand for locally grown foods, and report its findings to the 2016 Legislature to codify into law the statewide agricultural development and food resiliency strategy and goals; and

(4)  Changing the effective date from July 1, 2015, 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 Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1008, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1008, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair