STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1226

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 1541

S.D. 1

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 S.B. No. 1541, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE WAIAHOLE WATER SYSTEM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Waiahole Water System for bond debt service and tunnel repair.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Agribusiness Development Corporation; Ulupono Initiative; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; Bayer; Larry Jefts Farms, LLC; Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; Hawaii Crop Improvement Association; and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the Waiahole Water System plays a vital role in transporting water from windward Oahu to central and leeward Oahu, supplying approximately five thousand six hundred acres of land, the majority of which is dedicated to agriculture. However, farmers relying on this water system face significantly higher water rates compared to similar agricultural areas, driving up production costs and, ultimately, food prices for consumers. This measure provides funding to the Agribusiness Development Corporation to eliminate bond debt and address essential infrastructure repairs, securing long-term water access for local agriculture.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

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

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $4,500,000 to pay the bond debt service on the Waiahole water system and $2,000,000 for the repair of the adit 8 tunnel of the Waiahole water system.

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 S.B. No. 1541, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1541, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Water & Land.

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

____________________________

KIRSTIN KAHALOA, Chair