STAND. COM. REP. NO. 360

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1162

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 1162 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prevent the loss of large-scale agricultural parcels and to ensure that future use of agricultural lands is for bona fide agricultural operations.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Planning, Hawaii Farmers Union United, and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, and Hawaii Farm Bureau.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture and the Agribusiness Development Corporation.

     Your Committees find that the Hawaii State Plan goal of a strong, viable economy can be accomplished through expanded agriculture throughout the islands, which requires preservation of large parcels of agricultural lands.  Commercially viable agriculture requires large contiguous parcels for operation.  Your Committees further find that the subdivision of agricultural lands and approval of condominium property regimes must be scrutinized.

     Your Committees also find that it is important to address the concerns raised by the Department of Agriculture and the Agribusiness Development Corporation regarding the need to subdivide parcels, particularly in respect to the agricultural parks program, and the concerns voiced by the Hawaii Farm Bureau regarding the need for smaller parcels to be used as smaller farms; however, it is also necessary to retain the few remaining tracts of undivided agricultural land with good soil and take action to prevent the fractionalization of agricultural land by entities other than bona fide commercial farmers.

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Exempting a landowner applicant who is the Department of Agriculture, the Agribusiness Development Corporation, or a bona fide commercial farmer from the subdivision prohibition;

     (2)  Defining "bona fide commercial farmer";

     (3)  Defining "subdivision"; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1162, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1162, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Water and Land,

____________________________ LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair

____________________________ RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair