SB782 HD1

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawaii imports approximately eighty-five per cent of its food and is considered highly vulnerable to food shortage events. Climate change significantly increases this vulnerability with sea level rise and intensified weather patterns in the Pacific, such as droughts, hurricanes, and floods. In 2016, the governor pledged to double food production in Hawaii by 2030 at the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress, as part of Hawaii's commitments to the world and the State and in order to address the State's heavy reliance on imports.

The legislature further finds that small farms on fewer than ten acres in Hawaii produce a significant portion of locally-grown and locally-consumed food on each island. The small farm sector of agriculture is growing, yet the United States Department of Agriculture's 2017 Census of Agriculture reported that the average small-scale farmer in Hawaii earned less than $40,000 per year, with losses of almost $10,000 annually due to the high costs of farming, including land and water costs. To accomplish the State's 2030 goal for local food production, there is an urgent need to better support small farmers, including through small economic incentives to build a larger market.

The legislature additionally finds that taro is a hypoallergenic complex carbohydrate that plays a critical role in the health of families, particularly Native Hawaiians. Taro is one of Hawaii's highest-yielding staple starch food crops, producing ten thousand pounds and twenty thousand pounds per acre per annum under wet and dry cultivation, respectively. However, taro is severely underproduced in the State. The 2017 Census of Agriculture reported two hundred seven farms and four hundred ninety-five acres of taro in wetland and dryland production. An estimated two hundred to three hundred additional acres are unreported or in subsistence taro cultivation. Annual reported production averages four million pounds. However, taro imports are estimated to soon exceed local production.

The legislature also finds that loi kalo, or wetland taro systems, are also recognized for their potential to mitigate other impacts of climate change by functioning as riparian buffers and sediment retention basins. Root vegetables, such as taro, can often survive hurricanes and floods and can be harvested to address immediate food shortages where the capacity to store and cook food is strained.

The legislature further finds that, in its report to the legislature in 2010, the taro security and purity task force made several recommendations to make taro farming affordable, including improving access to land, water, mentoring, and economic incentives. The legislature recognizes the critical importance of protecting and perpetuating the traditional practice of taro farming as part of Hawaii's cultural identity and finds that there is a compelling public interest in providing funding to taro farmers in Hawaii to continue the traditional practice of taro farming in the State.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the department of agriculture to provide grants to Hawaii farming groups to be disbursed to taro farmers.

SECTION 2. Chapter 141, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§141- Grant program; taro farmers. (a) There is established in the department of agriculture a grant program to assist taro farmers in meeting the costs of cultivating taro for consumption.

(b) The program shall provide grants to qualified applicants under the following terms and conditions:

(1) The applicant shall submit to the department of agriculture a substantive plan for increasing taro production, including activities in which the applicant intends to engage using grant funds;

(2) The total amount of a grant to any one applicant shall not exceed $ ; and

(3) If the applicant is a limited liability company, partnership, sole proprietorship, nonprofit organization, or agricultural cooperative, the applicant shall meet any insurance requirements associated with the applicant's business classification or designation.

(1) Any grant shall be used exclusively for the purposes of assisting taro farmers in meeting the costs of cultivating taro for consumption;

(2) A grant applicant shall submit to the department of agriculture a substantive plan for increasing taro production, including activities that the applicant intends to engage in using grant funds;

(3) A grant applicant shall comply with all applicable federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal or state law;

(4) A grant shall not be used for purposes of providing entertainment or perquisites;

(5) A grant applicant shall comply with other requirements as the department of agriculture may prescribe;

(6) All activities undertaken using grant funds received shall comply with all applicable federal, state, and county statutes and ordinances;

(7) A grant applicant shall indemnify and hold harmless the State of Hawaii and its officers, agents, and employees from and against any and all claims arising out of or resulting from activities carried out, or projects undertaken, using grant funds provided under this section, and shall procure sufficient insurance to provide this indemnification if requested to do so by the department of agriculture; and

(8) A grant applicant shall agree to make available to the department of agriculture all records the applicant may have relating to the grant, to allow state agencies to monitor the applicant's compliance with this section.

(d) The department of agriculture shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to carry out the purposes of the grant program. Grant applications shall be reviewed and approved by an administrative staff member of the department of agriculture.

(e) As used in this section, "qualified applicant" means a farmer cultivating taro plants, taro corm, taro leaf, and taro huli."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023-2024 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025 for the department of agriculture to provide grants under the grant program established pursuant to section 2 of this Act.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of agriculture for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on June 30, 3000.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	782
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII		H.D. 1