STAND. COM. REP. NO. 161

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1250

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1250 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FARM TO FAMILIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the Hawaii Farm to Families Program to alleviate food shortages in the State;

(2) Require reports to the Legislature; and

(3) Appropriate funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture; Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui; Hawaiʻi Hunger Action Network; Hawaiʻi Foodbank; Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; Maui Food Bank; Hawaii Food Industry Association; Hale Pono Ewa Beach Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii; First Assembly of God Central Oahu; Fresh Aloha Direct; Giving Hope Hawaii; Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center; Alternative Structures International dba Kahumana; Lokoea Farms; Our Lady of Sorrows Church; Owen K. Kaneshiro Farms LLC; The Queen's Care Coalition; Saint Pius X Catholic Church; Sugarland Growers, Inc.; Wong Hon Hin Inc.; Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute; Healthy Eating, Active Living Coalition; Young Brothers; Hawaiian Electric; Malama Kauai; Kauai Climate Action Coalition; Hawaiʻi Youth Food Council; Hawaii Fish Company Inc.; Hawaiʻi Pacific Health; Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!; ʻAina Hoʻokupu o Kilauea; Restore the Commons; Climate Future Forum; Hoʻokipa Kauai Food Pantry; Kapaʻa Elementary School; Mental Health Kokua; Tokabago Farm LLC; 350Hawaii; The Food Basket Inc.; Hana Chapter of the Hawaii Farmers Union; Kūpuna Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; Indivisible Hawaiʻi; Hawaii Crop Improvement Association; Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action; Living Pono Project; Kauai Glory Farm; Hands of Hope; Immaculate Conception Church; Kalihi Union Church; Kobayashi Sugita & Goda, LLP; The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center; OLPH Food Ministry Pantry; Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church; Wahiawa Elementary School; Waimānalo Elementary and Intermediate School; ʻEleʻele Elementary School; Kauai Advisory Board for the Hawaiʻi Foodbank; Kalāheo Elementary School; Kapaa Middle School; Kilauea School; Nana's House, Kauai; St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church; City of Joy Ohana Food Distribution; and seventy-nine individuals.

Your Committee finds that food security is a critical issue in the State and that farm-to-food bank programs are essential to bridging the gap between local farmers and food insecure families. The Hawaii Farm to Families Program proposed in this measure seeks to relieve food shortages by providing funds to food banks to purchase, store, and transport food that is grown, raised, and harvested in the State to food insecure communities. This measure will strengthen food supply chains, empower local farmers, and improve access to nutritious food, thereby improving the food security and resiliency of the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the Department of Agriculture shall report the amount of food purchased and distributed by volume and dollar value;

(2) Requiring the Department of Agriculture to report on the category of food purchased and their island origin by volume and dollar value;

(3) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(4) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $2,000,000 for the Hawaii Farm to Families Program.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1250, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1250, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair