STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2818

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2159

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2159, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD SUSTAINABILITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, to prepare and periodically update, beginning prior to the 2026 Regular Session, the state agriculture functional plan to include food-related information on aquaculture.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development; Agribusiness Development Corporation; Hawaii Farmers Union; Kupu Place Aquaponics, LLC; Hawaii Farm Bureau; Food+ Policy; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; Hawaii Fishermen's Alliance for Conservation and Tradition; and one individual.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture.

Your Committee finds that seafood is crucial for food and nutrition security. Your Committee also finds, however, that to help the wild seafood system reach its potential and to expand the State's priority on food by including freshwater and saltwater aquatic organisms as viable food sources, the State needs relevant, regularly updated information from the Department of Agriculture and Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting into the Hawaii Revised Statutes the requirement for the Department of Agriculture to periodically update the state agricultural functional plan; and

(2) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2159, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2159, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair