STAND. COM. REP. NO. 38

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1149

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 1149 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds as a grant for the operation, repair, maintenance, and improvement of the East Kauai Water Users' Cooperative irrigation systems.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture and Hawaii Farm Bureau.

     Your Committee finds that reliable irrigation systems are the lifelines of Hawaii's agricultural community.  To ensure that Hawaii's agricultural crops receive a steady and dependable supply of water, irrigation systems need to be repaired, properly maintained, and improved to meet agricultural water requirements and to address extended water droughts.

     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 S.B. No. 1149 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair