STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2205

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2433

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 2433 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRUTH-IN-ADVERTISING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that all agricultural products sold at farmers' markets be displayed with a label or sign containing an identity statement declaring the products' geographic origin.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Farmers Union United and eight individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Agriculture.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation.

     Your Committee finds that farmers' markets establish and maintain connections between consumers and local farms, while increasing the production and consumption of local foods.  There have been instances, however, where consumers assumed they were purchasing local produce at a farmers' market, only to find out later that the produce was imported and bought from wholesalers.  This measure ensures that consumers know the geographic origin of all agricultural products sold at farmers' markets.

     Your Committee expressed concern that requiring vendors to label their products and to keep records for two years would be prohibitively expensive for some vendors.  However, your Committee notes that the intent of this measure is not to require vendors to purchase expensive signs and labels.  This measure only requires that the identity statement be reasonably sized and conspicuously displayed - a handwritten sign on notebook paper would be sufficient to satisfy the intent behind this measure.  Your Committee, however, believes that requiring vendors to keep records for two years is overly burdensome.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by removing language requiring farmers' market vendors to maintain records on the volume and geographic origin of products sold and any other records required by the Department of Agriculture, for at least two years.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2433, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2433, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

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

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair