STAND. COM. REP. NO 388

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 593

       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. 593 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to ensure that the Agribusiness Development Corporation makes the support of sustainable agriculture and food security its top priority and develops and implements a plan to accomplish this goal.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Agribusiness Development Corporation, Progressive Democrats of Hawaii, Pesticide Action Network North America, Hawaii Center for Food Safety, Hawaii Farmers Union United, Hawaii Primary Care Association, and ninety-nine individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and two individuals.

     Your Committees find that the Agribusiness Development Corporation manages over 20,000 acres of public agricultural lands and has significant potential to shape the State's agricultural public policy toward the goal of food self-sufficiency.

     Your Committees find that the challenge of providing affordable leases of agricultural land to medium and small food farmers has prompted the Legislature to act.  As raised in testimony, requiring agricultural land leases to support local food production for not only the Agribusiness Development Corporation but also the Department of Agriculture will benefit the public interest.  Your Committees further find that providing more transparency and accountability through reporting on leased and non-leased agricultural lands will encourage better leasing practices.

     Your Committees also find that it is necessary to lease agricultural land in a variety of farm sizes, provide protocols to enable farming of specialty products, and generally support diversified agriculture to achieve this goal; therefore, your Committees find that the contents of S.B. No. 510 (Regular Session of 2015) are necessary to incorporate into this measure to carry out such tasks and accomplish the above goals.

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting the provisions of S.B. No. 510 (Regular Session of 2015), which require the Department of Agriculture and Agribusiness Development Corporation to take greater steps to lease and dispose of lands in a way that promotes diversified agriculture;

     (2)  Codifying provisions requiring the Agribusiness Development Corporation to make local food production part of its mission;

     (3)  Requiring the Department of Agriculture to lease each year at least fifty percent of the land it manages to operations whose primary business is local food production, beginning January 1, 2016;

     (4)  Requiring the Agribusiness Development Corporation to lease each year at least fifty percent of the land it manages to operations whose primary business is local food production, beginning January 1, 2016;

     (5)  Inserting a definition of "local food production";

     (6)  Amending the purpose section to reflect other amendments; and

     (7)  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. 593, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 593, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________ LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair

____________________________ RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair