THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1230
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII		H.D. 1

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO MEAT DONATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Chapter 159, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§159-    Further exemptions; food donations; wild game. (a) This chapter shall not apply to the slaughtering of wild game or the preparation and transportation of wild game at establishments conducting these operations if the articles are wild game exclusively to be donated by a hunter for the use or distribution by a charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization to needy persons pursuant to chapter 145D; provided that the wild game shall not be combined with a meat food product regulated under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, title 21 United States Code section 601 et seq., or a poultry product regulated under the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act, title 21 United States Code section 451 et seq.; provided further that the transportation of wild game shall be limited to moving the wild game to and from the premises where the hunter killed the wild game, the processing establishment, and the charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization.

(b) For the purposes of this section, "wild game" means a member of a species of game not indigenous to the State, including axis deer. "Wild game" includes carcasses, parts thereof, and meat or meat products derived from wild game."

SECTION 2. Section 145D-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§145D-5[]] Reserving the State's authority to regulate, inspect, or ban the use of donated food. [Nothing] Notwithstanding section 159-  , nothing in this chapter is intended to restrict the authority of the department of health or the department of agriculture and biosecurity to regulate, inspect, or ban the use of [such] donated foods for human consumption."

SECTION 3. Section 159-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "meat or meat products" to read as follows:

""Meat or meat products" means any product capable of use as human food which is made wholly or in part from any meat or other portions of the carcass of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats, excepting products which contain meat or other portions of the carcasses only in a relatively small proportion or historically have not been considered by consumers as products of the meat food industry, and which are exempted from the definition as meat products by the board under the conditions as it may prescribe to assure that the meat or other portions of the carcasses contained in the products are not adulterated and that the products are not represented as meat products. [This term] "Meat or meat products", as applied to food products of equines or wild game, shall have a meaning comparable to that provided in this definition with respect to cattle, sheep, swine, and goats."

SECTION 4. Section 159-29, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

"(c) The transportation by commercial carrier of carcasses, parts thereof, or meat or meat products produced without inspection under subsection (a) [is] shall be prohibited, except under permit issued by the board[.] and under section 159-   ."

SECTION 5. Section 159-34, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) [The] Notwithstanding section 159-   , the preparation, sale, offering for sale, or transportation or receipt for transportation in intrastate commerce of meat and meat products derived from exotic animals, unless inspected and passed as provided for under this part, [is] shall be prohibited. Violators shall be subject to all requirements and penalties of this chapter."

SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 3000.

Report Title:

Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Department of Health; Food Donation; Charitable, Religious, or Nonprofit Organizations; Wild Game; Axis Deer

Description:

Exempts the donation of wild game meat, including axis deer, by a hunter for the use or distribution by a charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization to needy persons from certain laws regarding the inspection and transportation of meat. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

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