STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2262

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3096

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 3096 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR AN AGRICULTURE INNOVATION CENTER,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation for fiscal year 2021-2022 to build an agricultural innovation center.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, and Hawaii Crop Improvement Association.

Your Committees find that increasing the consumption of local food and promoting healthy eating habits, particularly among children, is vital to having healthy families and healthy communities. Your Committees further find that to increase the amount of locally grown food served in public schools, it is vital to have the proper facilities to grow food locally and to teach students about agriculture.

Your Committees additionally find that there is a proposal to build a state-of-the-art agriculture innovation center on Kauai. The proposed facility has the potential to provide agricultural opportunities for students on Kauai, across the State, and beyond. In addition to growing food, the proposed facility will offer courses and educational experiences regarding the development of value-added products; finance; soil research; science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) research; and aquaculture. Your Committees thus find that the agriculture innovation center has the potential to be a thriving hub for STEM curricula and career opportunities for all of Hawaii's youth.

Accordingly, this measure will promote the expansion and strengthening of agriculture in the State, while training students for future careers in a broad spectrum of high-need areas, by appropriating funds for an agricultural innovation center.

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. 3096 and recommend that it pass Second Reading 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