SB2288

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency and United States Department of Agriculture, food waste is the second largest component that enters a waste stream and accounts for twenty‑five per cent of all materials sent to landfills. Recycling food waste into compost has environmental benefits, such as improving soil health, increasing drought resistance, and reducing the need for supplemental water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Furthermore, applying compost and organic matter to soil sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, forming the largest land-based carbon sink, and mitigates climate change by effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The legislature believes that food waste diversion will help move the State toward the Aloha+ Challenge commitment of seventy per cent waste stream reduction by 2025.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate moneys to the department of agriculture to establish and implement a compost reimbursement program to assist farmers, ranchers, and landscapers in the State with affordable compost material comprising green waste and food waste.

SECTION 2. Chapter 141, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§141- Compost reimbursement program. (a) The department of agriculture shall establish and implement a compost reimbursement program to assist farmers, ranchers, and landscapers in meeting the costs of acquiring compost purchased from a certified processor, dealer, retailer, or wholesaler licensed to do business in the State.

(b) Applications for cost reimbursements shall be submitted on a form furnished by the department of agriculture and shall be filed with accompanying documentation of the costs of purchasing compost pursuant to subsection (c); provided that:

(1) The applicant shall indemnify and hold harmless the State and its officers, agents, and employees from all claims arising out of or resulting from the compost purchased; and

(2) The department may request an applicant to provide necessary information for the purposes of verifying the size or sale weight, as applicable, and amount of compost purchased.

(c) Documentation of compost costs, requested by the department of agriculture, shall be filed for compost purchased within the fiscal year immediately preceding the filing and be effective for compost costs incurred.

(d) Funds shall be dispersed upon approval on an annual basis by the department of agriculture to the farmer, rancher, or landscaper for fifty per cent of the costs incurred for the purchase of the compost.

(e) The department of agriculture shall aggregate the total reimbursement applications pursuant to this section and divide and distribute the available moneys on a first come, first served basis; provided that no single farmer, rancher, or landscaper shall receive a reimbursement total of more than $50,000 per year.

(f) There is established within the department of agriculture a compost reimbursement program manager position, which shall be a full-time, temporary position exempt from chapters 76 and 89. The compost reimbursement program manager shall possess a requisite level of knowledge and expertise in the area of program management necessary to carry out the duties of the position. The compost reimbursement program manager shall:

(1) Facilitate the division and distribution of available costs for reimbursement; and

(2) Manage the day-to-day coordination of the compost reimbursement program.

The compost reimbursement program manager shall receive a salary not to exceed $ per year.

(g) As used in this section, "compost" means a product of a process in which organic materials are biologically decomposed under controlled conditions to produce a stable humus-like mulch or soil amendment. The composting process includes but is not limited to receipt of materials, primary processing, decomposition activities, and final processing for sale and marketing. Compostable materials shall include pre- and post‑consumer food waste, waste from animal food processing operations, green waste, crop residues, and waste from vegetable food processing operations and similar materials."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $2,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 for the department of agriculture to develop and implement a compost reimbursement program; provided that the department of agriculture may expend:

(1) $ to establish one full-time program manager position for the compost reimbursement program; and

(2) $ for program and administrative costs.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of agriculture for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2022.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2288
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII