STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3379

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.R. No. 39

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.R. No. 39 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TO DEVELOP A PLAN FOR ITS FIVE HUNDRED ELEVEN ACRES OF THE FORMER GALBRAITH ESTATE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to develop a plan for the former Galbraith Estate for the purposes and objectives established in Act 31, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

     Your Committee finds that the State purchased over one thousand seven hundred acres of agricultural land from the Galbraith Estate for $25,000,000.  Five hundred eleven of these acres were provided to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.  Your Committee also finds that Act 31, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, updated the State's agricultural planning statute to include the growth and development of traditional Hawaiian farming systems and traditional Hawaiian crops, as well as the growth and development of small-scale farms, as agricultural objectives of the State.  Your Committee believes that the agricultural land on the former Galbraith Estate would be best used to further the agricultural objectives of the State and could be used to further the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' goals and objectives of contributing to food self-sufficiency.

     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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 39 and recommends its adoption.

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

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JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair