STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2980

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2556

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2556 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MILK PRODUCTION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to repeal Chapter 157, Hawaii Revised Statutes, commonly referred to as the Milk Control Act.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaii Foodservice Alliance, LLC. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Department of Agriculture.

Your Committees find that the Milk Control Act was established in 1967 to strengthen and regulate the State's dairy industry at a time when over-production and unfair pricing schemes threatened to undermine the industry. The State is no longer self-sufficient in milk and the Department of Agriculture currently does not set minimum prices. The remaining complex regulatory hurdles have imposed high costs on local producers and negatively impacted their ability to compete against dairy products from the mainland. Accordingly, repealing the Milk Control Act will encourage local milk production and increase the State's food security and resiliency.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the moneys remaining in the Milk Control Special Fund to be used to refund fees paid by licensees within the two years prior to the effective date of this measure, and any remaining balance thereafter to be paid to the Department of Agriculture to assist the dairy industry to promote cooperatives and support the continued production of milk in the State; and

(2) 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 Commerce and Consumer Protection and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2556, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2556, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair