REPORT TITLE:
Sugar/Papaya Industries


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds to finance the major sugar cane operations on
the island of Kauai to encourage the continuation of sugar
production on that island.  Appropriates funds for intensive
control of the papaya ringspot virus, leading to eradication of
the virus on the island of Hawaii.  (HB1632 CD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1632
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 3
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            C.D. 1
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1                              PART I
 
 2      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the sugar cane
 
 3 industry remains as a vital component of the island of Kauai's
 
 4 economic base.  The industry employs approximately seven hundred
 
 5 workers and uses about twenty-five thousand acres of land for
 
 6 cultivation on Kauai.  As a user of large tracts of land and a
 
 7 provider of many jobs, the sugar cane industry is without
 
 8 parallel, especially to neighbor island rural communities as on
 
 9 Kauai.
 
10      The legislature further finds that the sugar industry on
 
11 Kauai is struggling to survive and in urgent need of financial
 
12 assistance to continue operations.  Past experience with sugar
 
13 cane company shutdowns, such as in Hamakua, has shown that the
 
14 closures have come at a great cost, both financially and
 
15 socially, to the persons employed and to the State in general.
 
16      The legislature further finds that due to the emergency
 
17 situation of the sugar industry on Kauai and because of the large
 
18 scale of operations, additional funding is needed for the
 
19 agricultural loan revolving fund to enable the department of
 
20 agriculture to carry out appropriate loan programs.
 

 
Page 2                                                     1632
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 3
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        C.D. 1
                                                        

 1      The purpose of this Part is to appropriate the sum of
 
 2 $2,500,000 in fiscal year 2000-2001 to be deposited into the
 
 3 agricultural loan revolving fund to finance major sugar cane
 
 4 operations on Kauai to encourage the continuation of sugar
 
 5 production on that island.  An additional sum of $2,500,000 will
 
 6 be earmarked from the agricultural loan revolving fund for this
 
 7 Part.
 
 8      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
 9 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $2,500,000 or so much
 
10 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 to be
 
11 deposited into the agriculture loan revolving fund to finance
 
12 major sugar cane operations on the island of Kauai to encourage
 
13 the continuation of sugar production on that island.
 
14      SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the agriculture
 
15 loan revolving fund the sum of $5,000,000 or so much thereof as
 
16 may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 to finance major sugar
 
17 cane operations on the island of Kauai to encourage the
 
18 continuation of sugar production on that island.
 
19      SECTION 4.  The sums appropriated shall be expended by the
 
20 department of agriculture for the purposes of this Part.
 
21      SECTION 5.  Notwithstanding chapter 155, Hawaii Revised
 
22 Statutes, or any other law to the contrary, the department of
 
23 agriculture may make direct loans to qualified farmers under
 

 
Page 3                                                     1632
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 3
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        C.D. 1
                                                        

 1 section 155-8, Hawaii Revised Statutes, in the aggregate amount
 
 2 of $5,000,000 from the agriculture loan revolving fund to finance
 
 3 major sugar cane operations on the island of Kauai to encourage
 
 4 the continuation of sugar production on that island.  The board
 
 5 of agriculture may waive any statutory requirement specified
 
 6 under chapter 155, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as deemed necessary
 
 7 to effectuate this Part, with the exception of the following
 
 8 conditions:
 
 9      (1)  Interest charged shall not be less than three per cent
 
10           per year simple interest;
 
11      (2)  The term of the loan shall not exceed ten years; and
 
12      (3)  Collateral shall consist of not less than a first lien
 
13           position in rolling stocks and crops and the pledging
 
14           of other assets as deemed reasonable by the board of
 
15           agriculture.
 
16 The credit elsewhere requirement shall be waived.
 
17                              PART II
 
18      SECTION 6.  The legislature finds that papaya is a vital
 
19 component of the island of Hawaii's economic base.  The industry
 
20 grows papaya on two thousand five hundred acres of land across
 
21 the island but primarily in the Puna district.  Papayas are grown
 
22 on more than five hundred independent family farms and the
 
23 industry employs approximately two thousand workers.
 

 
Page 4                                                     1632
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 3
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        C.D. 1
                                                        

 1      The Big Island's papaya industry has historically produced
 
 2 more than ninety per cent of the State's papayas.  In 1992, the
 
 3 dreaded papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) was found at Pahoa, Puna,
 
 4 and in three years, it virtually eliminated papaya production in
 
 5 the district.  Island production dropped from more than sixty
 
 6 million pounds in 1992 to less than thirty million pounds in
 
 7 1999.  As a result, the Big Island's production now comprises
 
 8 only sixty-five per cent of the State's papaya production.
 
 9      Although the genetically-engineered Rainbow and Sunup
 
10 varieties are resistant to PRSV and are being planted in hundreds
 
11 of acres in the Puna district and elsewhere on the island,
 
12 consumer acceptance to genetically-engineered products may
 
13 dictate a need to restore the favored Kapoho Solo variety to the
 
14 Puna district.  The incidence of PRSV must be severely reduced,
 
15 with the long-term goal of complete eradication if the Big Island
 
16 papaya industry is to return to prominence in Hawaii's
 
17 diversified agriculture.  The elimination of PRSV can only be
 
18 accomplished by removing every diseased and susceptible papaya
 
19 plant on the island in a timely manner.  This goal can be
 
20 accomplished only through the cooperation of industry,
 
21 government, and the private sector, a task which industry and the
 
22 private sector are willing to pursue.
 

 
 
 
Page 5                                                     1632
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 3
                                                        S.D. 1
                                                        C.D. 1
                                                        

 1      SECTION 7.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
 2 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $800,000 or so much
 
 3 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 to be
 
 4 expended for intensive control of the papaya ringspot virus,
 
 5 leading to eradication of the virus from the island of Hawaii.
 
 6      The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of
 
 7 agriculture for the purposes of this Part.
 
 8      SECTION 8.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.