STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1295

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 314

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 314, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD BANKS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Office of Community Services within the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for the purchase, storage, and transportation costs of food to be distributed to those in need, allocated to the four counties using the methodology utilized by the Office of Community Services in administering The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a federal food security program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Office of Community Services, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, Hawaii Food Industry Association, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, Hawai‘i Hunger Action Network, Ulupono Initiative, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, Hawaii Medical Service Association, Maui Food Bank, Hawai‘i Food Bank, Hawai‘i Food Bank Kaua‘i, and six individuals.

Your Committee finds that one in every six residents in the State, including one in every four children, faces food insecurity. The Office of Community Services administers federal food security programs, including TEFAP, which helps supplement the diets of low-income individuals by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost. Under TEFAP, the Office of Community Services receives large amounts of surplus food from the United States Department of Agriculture that is distributed to low-income individuals in the State through the Hawaii food banks. This measure will appropriate the necessary funds to allow Hawaii's food banks to continue meeting residents' ongoing food security needs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Updating the legislative findings to clarify that, during fiscal year 2020-2021, Hawaii's four food banks distributed 36,500,000 pounds of food statewide;

(2) Clarifying that the purpose of the appropriation is to fund the purchase, storage, and transportation costs of food for distribution to the food banks in the State through the Office of Community Services;

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2023; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 314, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 314, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health and Human Services,

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair