CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 176

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 496

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

C.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madam and Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 496, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MAMAKI TEA,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Prohibit the use of certain words on the label of a consumer package that contains or includes tea or dried leaves from the plant Pipturus albidus, unless one hundred percent of the tea or dried leaves were grown in the State; and

(2) Appropriate funds for a Measurement Standards Inspector position.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

(1) Prohibiting the use of misleading Hawaiian imagery, place names, or motifs as it relates to the labeling requirements;

(2) Authorizing the Department of Agriculture to establish and administer a voluntary certification mark program;

(3) Authorizing any person or the Department of Agriculture to sue for injunctive relief to compel compliance with the labeling requirements;

(4) Defining "consumer package", "Hawaii-grown", and "nonconsumer package";

(5) Inserting an appropriation amount of $65,000 to the Department of Agriculture for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) Measurement Standards Inspector V position;

(6) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2025; and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 496, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 496, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

____________________________ LYNN DECOITE Chair	____________________________ KIRSTIN KAHALOA Co-Chair
____________________________ MIKE GABBARD Co-Chair	____________________________ SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI Co-Chair
____________________________ DRU KANUHA Co-Chair	____________________________ MATTHIAS KUSCH Co-Chair
____________________________ HERBERT M. RICHARDS, III Co-Chair