STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1306

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 313

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Higher Education and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 313, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to establish the Foreign Agriculture Small Equipment Pilot Program at a University of Hawaii community college to identify and purchase foreign agricultural technology and retrofit engines to comply with the United States Environmental Protection Agency's emission standards for small engines.

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

Your Committees find that mechanization is a major impediment to the expansion of farming in the State, since much of crop production depends upon manual labor. According to testimony received by your Committees, sixty-six percent of the State's 7,328 farms are between one to nine acres, and seventy-eight percent of farms statewide produce less than $25,000 in sales. Mechanized equipment from foreign jurisdictions, specifically designed for small-scale farms, has been proven to increase productivity over time but, due to importation prohibitions, is inaccessible to local farmers. To help small-scale farms increase the amount of food they produce, this measure establishes a pilot program that will increase access to appropriately-sized mechanized farming equipment for small-scale farms in the State.

Your Committees note that the University of Hawaii is not the most appropriate entity to administer the Foreign Agriculture Small Equipment Pilot Program proposed by this measure. While the University of Hawaii Community Colleges would provide critical workforce development to support the Pilot Program, another entity is needed to coordinate the various departments and institutions involved in the Pilot Project. Further, although the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources' Cooperative Extension works directly with state farmers to identify their needs and conduct crop technology trials, the purview of the Pilot Program aligns more closely with that of the Department of Agriculture. Amendments to this measure are therefore necessary to address these concerns.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language that requires the Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with the University of Hawaii, to administer the Foreign Agriculture Small Equipment Pilot Program;

(2) Specifying that the Department of Agriculture, rather than the University of Hawaii, shall expend the appropriated funds;

(3) Requiring the Department of Agriculture, rather than the University of Hawaii, to submit a report to the Legislature;

(4) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Higher Education and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 313, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 313, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair