STAND. COM. REP. NO. 658

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 186

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 186 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RESTRICTIONS ON AGRICULTURAL USES AND ACTIVITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit the enforcement of a re-recorded homeowners' association restriction if the restriction prohibits bona fide agricultural uses and activities on agricultural land.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Office of Planning, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, and Wootens Produce of Kauai.

Your Committee finds that subdivisions of agricultural lands have significantly increased over the past few decades, and homeowners' associations, which govern those subdivisions, have imposed restrictions that limit bona fide agricultural uses on agricultural lands. Restrictive covenants that limit agricultural uses on agricultural lands undermine the State's interest in protecting and preserving agricultural resources and promoting self-sufficiency. Thus, this measure is needed to prevent the restriction of agricultural uses and activities on lots within state agricultural districts. This measure also clarifies that renewed contracts restricting agricultural uses and activities within agricultural lands are considered new contracts and are therefore voidable, under certain circumstances.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 186 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair