STAND. COM. REP. NO. 233

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 1185

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems, to which was referred H.B. No. 1185 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish and appropriate funds for a working group to study and report on how best to grow plants and develop plant-based building materials in Hawaii.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Hawaiʻi Farmers Union; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; Climate Protectors Hawaiʻi; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; and four individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii's climate provides an ideal environment for cultivating plant-based materials that can be processed into sustainable building materials. Fast-growing resources like clumping bamboo, industrial hemp, and biocements offer strong, flexible, and environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional materials while also supporting carbon sequestration. To explore this potential, this measure establishes and funds a working group to study and develop strategies for growing and producing plant-based building materials in Hawaii, which could result in the creation of green, agricultural jobs and help the State meet its net negative carbon and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that this measure is a matter of statewide concern;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1185, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1185, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Higher Education.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems,

____________________________

KIRSTIN KAHALOA, Chair