STAND. COM. REP. NO. 98

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 511

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 511 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to establish a foreign agriculture small equipment pilot program to identify efficient agriculture equipment and retrofit engines to meet the United States Environmental Protection Agency's standards.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Maui County Farm Bureau; Ulupono Initiative; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; Hawai'i Farm Bureau; Hawaii Crop Improvement Association; and five individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture.

Your Committee finds that the need for mechanization is a major impediment of farming in Hawaii and that the average farmer is a small farmer with limited land. While the availability of labor decreases, farmers and ranchers continue to look for alternative means to operate their farms through technology, like small equipment tractors. Your Committee further finds that these technologies are not readily available domestically, but instead, are available abroad in countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and China. However, the engines attached to these technologies are not in compliance with the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) standard regulations. This measure will establish a pilot program and appropriate funds for the Department of Agriculture to retrofit EPA-complaint engines into foreign-made small equipment tractors. Your Committee notes that the Department of Agriculture lacks the infrastructure required to implement such a program and prefers H.B. No. 313, Regular Session of 2023, which requires the University of Hawaii to establish a similarly configured pilot program at a community college of their selection.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 511 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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MIKE GABBARD, Chair