STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1124

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 482

       H.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 482, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish and appropriate monies to fund a full-time temporary program manager position in the Department of Agriculture for the pesticide subsidy program.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Kona Coffee Farmers Association, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Royal Kona Coffee Visitor Center Mill and Museum, Hawaii Coffee Growers Association, Hawaii Coffee Association, Maui Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Farmers Union United, Greenwell Farms, Kauai Coffee Company LLC, and four individuals.

     Your Committee finds that Act 105, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, established a pesticide subsidy program within the Department of Agriculture effective from July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2019, with the purpose of providing subsidies to coffee farmers for the purchase of pesticides containing the fungus Beauveria bassiana to control infestation of the coffee berry borer.  Although Act 105 appropriated funds to be used to hire one temporary program specialist for the pesticide subsidy program, the Act did not create a program manager position; this measure seeks to establish and appropriate funds to enable the Department of Agriculture to hire a program manager.

     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 H.B. No. 482, H.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair