STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2342

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2350

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 Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2350 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 uses of agricultural lands are for bona fide agricultural operations.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Kailua Neighborhood Board; Save Oahu's Neighborhoods; Carbon Drawdown Solutions, Inc.; Malama O Puna; and thirteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, and two individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning.

     Your Committees find that gentleman farms are a major concern in the State.  Thorough and stringent measures such as this measure are needed to protect agricultural lands from subdivision, prevent the fractionalization of agricultural parcels, and promote the conservation of large agricultural tracts.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2350 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health.

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

________________________________ BREENE HARIMOTO, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair