STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2372

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2387

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2387 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize the Department of Education to establish a farm to school program;

(2) Require the farm to school coordinator in the Department of Agriculture to work in collaboration with the Department of Education on any farm to school program; and

(3) Establish and appropriate funds for two full-time equivalent (2.0 FTE) farm to school staff positions within the Department of Education.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education; Department of Health; Department of Agriculture; State Public Charter School Commission; Hawaii State Teachers Association; Hawai‘i Farm Bureau; American Heart Association; Mala‘ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School; Blue Zones Project; Hawai‘i Public Health Institute; Kōkua Hawai‘i Foundation; Local Food Coalition; Kamehameha Schools; Hawai‘i Pacific Health; O‘ahu Farm to School Network; Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities for the Democratic Party of Hawaii; Malama Kona, Surfrider Foundation; Hawaii Farmers Union United; We Are One, Inc.; Hawaii Afterschool Alliance; Hawai‘i Primary Care Association; Mālama Kaua‘i; Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu; Maui School Garden Network; Ulupono Initiative; Ka Ohana O Na Pua; and numerous individuals.

Your Committees find that farm to school programs benefit students in multiple ways, including providing students with agricultural education and increasing opportunities for place-based experiential learning, physical activity, and active participation in the school meal program. Since the Hawaii farm to school program was established pursuant to Act 218, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Department of Agriculture, University of Hawaii, and community partners, established pilot programs using strategic procurement adjustments to increase the supply of locally-grown and raised foods in the school meal program. The continued growth and sustainability of the Hawaii farm to school program will require on-going coordination between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Education.

As this measure moves through the legislative process, your Committees request that your Committee on Ways and Means further consider the inclusion of charter schools by the Department of Education in the farm to school program.

Your Committees have amended this measure by requiring, rather than authorizing, the Department of Education to establish a farm to school program.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2387, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2387, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair