STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2233

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2097

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. 2097 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the Climate-Resilient Food Systems Grant Program within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; and

(2) Appropriate funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity; Department of Research and Development of the County of Hawaiʻi; one member of the Hawaiʻi County Council; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; Hawaiʻi Farmers Union United; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council Inc.; Mālama Kauaʻi; Kauai Climate Action Coalition; Climate Protectors Hawaii; Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action; 350Hawaii; Restore the Commons; Agriculture Stewardship Hawaiʻi; and forty-four 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 growing threats from climate change that include extreme weather events, prolonged droughts, rising temperatures, and shifting pest and disease patterns, threatening both short-term crop yields and long-term agricultural viability. Special equipment and training are necessary to implement innovative practices and infrastructure improvements to strengthen climate resiliency. Your Committee concludes that in order to support climate adaptive food systems, this measure, which provides funding to farmers and ranchers, is critical for the future success of agriculture in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that grant moneys may be used for certain costs associated with project development, implementation, and evaluation;

(2) Clarifying that to obtain a grant, an applicant shall include a detailed description of each climate adaptation technology or practice that will be utilized by the applicant for the project;

(3) Requiring the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to adopt rules to develop criteria for what qualifies as "climate adaptation, resiliency, and food system infrastructure" for the purposes of obtaining moneys through the grant program;

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

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

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. 2097, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2097, 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