STAND. COM. REP. NO. 78

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 73

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 73 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL PARK LEASES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow the Department of Agriculture to extend the agricultural park lease of any lessee who holds a lease with a remaining term of fifteen years or less; provided that the land covered by the lease is twenty-five acres or less and located in a county with a population of less than five hundred thousand.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; Hawai‘i Farm Bureau; Hawaii Crop Improvement Association; and Hawaii Cattleman's Council, Inc. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture and Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Your Committees find that agricultural park lessees are likely to stop investing in their plot lands or making major improvements to the infrastructure of their agricultural operations when they anticipate their leases will expire without the possibility for renewal or extension. This measure will authorize the Department of Agriculture to extend leases of an agricultural park lessee who holds a lease with a remaining term of fifteen years or less in a county with a population of five hundred thoughsand or less.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 73 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land,

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair