STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2452

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2845

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 Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2845 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD SUSTAINABILITY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Office of Planning, in coordination with the appropriate departmental agency, to prepare and periodically update a functional plan for seafood sustainability that expands the State's priority on food by including wild seafood as a viable food source.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Fisherman's Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, Inc.; Big Island Fisheries; Waialua Boat Club; Society for Hawaii Heritage Animals; O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i; and nine individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Office of Planning, and Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committees find that increased local food production is a top priority of the State to achieve the state goal of sustainability. As an island state, wild seafood is a staple of the diets of residents and visitors and therefore should be considered in food sustainability plans. Although, your Committees support all efforts that encourage increased local food production in the State, it is your Committees' understanding that the purpose of this measure is to assess the wild seafood situation, not to increase wild seafood production at this time.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing the Office of Planning with the Department of Agriculture as the lead agency, and directing the Department of Agriculture to coordinate with the Office of Planning and Department of Land and Natural Resources;

(2) Clarifying that, to conform with the Hawaii State Planning Act, the Governor shall submit the functional plan pursuant to section 226-56, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(3) Extending the deadline for submission of the functional plan from twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2019 to twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2020;

(4) Inserting a blank appropriation for fiscal year 2018‑2019 for the Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the Office of Planning and Department of Land and Natural Resources, to prepare and periodically update a functional plan for seafood sustainability; and

(5) 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 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. 2845, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2845, S.D. 1, 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