STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2103

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2110

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2110 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a Conservation Agriculture and Soil Health Incentive Program within the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission;

(2) Require an annual report to the Legislature; and

(3) Appropriate funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; University of Hawaiʻi College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience; Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; 350Hawaii; Hawaii Floriculture and Nursery Association; Kauai Climate Action Coalition; The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; Zero Waste Kauaʻi; ʻĀina Momona; Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action; Climate Protectors Hawaii; Agriculture Stewardship Hawaiʻi; and forty-five individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Libertarian Party of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that the State's agricultural sector faces rising challenges due to climate change, particularly regarding the degradation of soil health necessary for high agricultural output. Agricultural preservation involving soil health is therefore critical to bolster the State's food security and continued economic resilience. The Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission's mission is to promote and engage with effective climate policies. Your Committee believes that since soil health is closely tied to ecosystem and climate change resilience, it is appropriate to place any soil health program under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission. By establishing a Conservation Agriculture and Soil Health Incentive Program within the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, this measure will support local food production, increase food system resilience, and encourage sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider an appropriation amount of $1,500,000.

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. 2110, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2110, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair