STAND. COM. REP. NO. 99

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 519

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 Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 519 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AQUACULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish and appropriate funds for an Aquaculture Advisory Committee within the Department of Agriculture.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Hawaii Aquaculture and Aquaponics Association, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, Kua‘āina Uli ‘Auamo, Waiahole Nursery and Garden Center, Kulahaven Farms LLC, and six individuals.

Your Committee finds that Hawai‘i's aquaculture industry earned a record high of $79.7 million in sales in 2021 and expects this growth to continue. Your Committee further finds that the industry has not had any direct vehicle for policy collaboration with the State since the Governor's Aquaculture Advisory Council was disbanded more than twenty years ago. This measure will reestablish an Aquaculture Advisory Committee within the Department of Agriculture to increase communication between industry actors and relevant policy makers and support the continued growth of aquaculture in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure, as recommended by the Hawaii Aquaculture and Aquaponics Association, by:

(1) Specifying that the Advisory Committee be attached to the Office of the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture;

(2) Increasing the membership of the advisory committee from five to eleven to include a cross section of aquaculture producers, researchers, extension, investors, and seafood wholesalers, distributors, and restaurant sector representatives;

(3) Specifying that membership recommendations be made to the Governor by the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture;

(4) Establishing a two-year term limit, unless extended on a case-by-case basis by a majority vote of the Advisory Committee;

(5) Requiring that the Advisory Committee meet quarterly;

(6) Requiring the Department of Agriculture to provide administrative support to the Advisory Committee; and

(7) 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 Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 519, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 519, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair