STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2542

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3025

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 3025 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEMP,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Clarify that the Department of Agriculture shall not require inspections or sampling of hemp that duplicate inspections and sampling required by the United States Department of Agriculture; and

(2) Repeal the requirement for the Department of Agriculture to adopt rules necessary to address nuisance issues, including smell, noise, and excessive lighting, arising out of the activities of certain hemp growers.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, the Department of Agriculture is tasked with enforcing restrictions regarding the impact to surrounding communities from growing hemp within the State. As part of this duty, the Department of Agriculture is also tasked with adopting rules to address nuisance issues such as smell, noise, and excessive lighting arising from hemp production. However, your Committee further finds that pre-existing regulations and authority under the Department of Health and county land use ordinances address, and are the appropriate method of addressing, the areas of nuisance relating to hemp production. Your Committee recognizes that where pre-existing frameworks of regulatory oversight for nuisance and other issues are present, a deferral to and reliance on those regulatory frameworks is the proper and preferred means to avoid any ambiguities that may arise and add additional and duplicative regulations for Hawaii's hemp growers. Accordingly, this measure eliminates any redundancies and confusion arising from conflicting rules and increasing the challenge to enforce the State's laws on commercial hemp production.

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. 3025 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair