STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2240

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2084

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2084 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the agricultural land acquisition fund and appropriate monies through that fund for the acquisition, administration, maintenance, and management of agricultural lands and irrigation systems.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Agribusiness Development Corporation; Ulupono Initiative; The Trust for Public Land; Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i; Hawai‘i Farm Bureau; and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

Your Committees find that the Agribusiness Development Corporation is an agency administratively attached to the Department of Agriculture and tasked with transitioning fallow plantation land into cropland to provide economic opportunities for diversified agriculture operations. Your Committees also find that there is no fund or entity dedicated to conserve and protect agricultural lands pursuant to Article XI, section 3, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii. Your Committees further find that attempts to stimulate diversified agriculture through regulatory controls and land use and zoning restrictions are not sufficient to effectively and significantly increase diversified agriculture and avert Hawaii's agricultural self-sufficiency crisis. Furthermore, to accomplish the objective of doubling local food production by 2020, the Governor aims to make more land available for agriculture as a priority. Accordingly, this measure provides a means by which agricultural land can be acquired for agricultural purposes.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2084 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair