STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2006

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 890

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 890, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESS REGULATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require products that are labeled, marketed, or sold as "poi" to contain a label stating whether the product was made wholly from kalo grown in the State or from kalo grown outside the State.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Hawai‘i Farm Bureau; Hawai‘i Farmers Union; Koʻolau Foundation; and Koʻolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club.

Your Committee finds that geographic indications are signs or labels used on products that have a specific geographic origin and possess qualities or reputations that are due to that origin. For consumers, geographic indications inform consumers about a product's geographic origin and a quality or characteristic of the product linked to its place of origin.

Your Committee further funds that poi has a deep cultural and agricultural significance in Hawaii and is a traditional Hawaiian dietary staple. Through transparent geographic labeling, this measure ensures that consumers are clearly informed on the geographic origin of the kalo used in the production of the poi products they purchase, while also protecting local farmers and the integrity of the State's indigenous food systems.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting labeling requirements for products labeled, marketed, or sold as "poi" and contains kalo wholly grown in the State;

(2) Defining "kalo"; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 890, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 890, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair