STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2689

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2563

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2563 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to assist the K‑12 Agriculture Workforce Development Pipeline Initiative in conducting agricultural self-sufficiency training on all islands for teachers, school administrators, and students.

 

     More specifically, this measure appropriates moneys to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for the continued work of the Initiative.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Education; the Department of Agriculture; the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; the Hawaii State Teachers Association; the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation; Hawaii Crop Improvement Association; Maui County Farm Bureau; and eighteen concerned individuals.

 

Your Committee finds that the K-12 Agriculture Workforce Development Pipeline Initiative was established by Act 229, Session Laws of Hawaii 2016, to conduct agricultural self-sufficiency training for teachers and school administrators on all islands.  Your Committee also finds that supporting the Initiative's training of teachers, students, and school administrators is in the best interest of the State as it promotes the perpetuation of the State's agricultural industry, by providing knowledge of and inspiring interest in agriculture and educating youth about the importance of sustainability and self-sufficiency.

 

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the appropriation from $200,000 to an unspecified amount; and

 

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050,

 

to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

 

     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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2563, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2563, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair