STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2685

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2371

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment, Water, Land, Culture and the Arts, and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2371 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRIVOLTAICS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to

(1) Require a landowner leasing agricultural sub-parcels on property used for agrivoltaics to prioritize lease offers for beginning farmers;

(2) Require a landowner leasing agricultural sub-parcels on property used for agrivoltaics to submit an annual agrivoltaics compliance report to the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity;

(3) Authorize Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to penalize any landowner that fails to meet agrivoltaics requirements;

(4) Authorize the development of solar energy facilities on agricultural lands with productivity ratings of B, C, or D under certain condition; and

(5) Authorize a county planning commission to issue special permits for agrivoltaics requirements before the approval of the Land Use Commission under certain conditions.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau, and Hawaiʻi Food+ Policy.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, Hawaii State Energy Office, and Public Utilities Commission.

Your Committees find that many productive agricultural lands are transitioning to utility-scale renewable energy development, particularly solar energy, which has led to a decrease in agricultural productivity and increase in barriers for beginning farmers to establish their operations. While existing law requires that a portion of any land used for solar energy facilities be made available for compatible agricultural activities, this requirement has not yielded substantial or sustained agricultural production. Establishing a strong regulatory framework for agrivoltaics that standardizes and regulates solar development on certain agricultural lands is needed to support commercial agriculture. Therefore, this measure will support the balance of agricultural productivity against energy feedstock and electric generation on public and private lands across the State.

Your Committees note the concerns raised in testimony that the elaborate regulatory framework of this measure, in its current form, is overly complex and does not provide flexibility in the event a situation arises where landowners of agricultural lands with solar energy facilities are unable to attract qualified beginning farmers or commercial agricultural producers willing to start farming under and around solar panels, and the substantial penalties for landowners who are found to not be in compliance. Further, clarification of certain terms could help ensure the compatible agricultural activities generate revenue from the activities occurring on the agricultural land under and around the solar energy facilities and are in furtherance of the State's food production goals to advance agrivoltaics in a way that supports farmers, strengthens local food production, and expands clean energy generation statewide.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have established requirements for permitted solar energy facilities regarding acreage, energy production by megawatt, percentage of compatible agricultural activities, and prevailing regional agricultural lease rates;

(2) Deleting language that would have required the landowner to construct and maintain agricultural infrastructure necessary for agricultural activities;

(3) Deleting language that would have required all non-solar panel areas not used for agricultural activities to maintain permanent vegetative cover;

(4) Inserting language that requires land adjacent to and under solar energy facilities be put into compatible agricultural activities by a farm operation that derives revenue from agricultural activities;

(5) Restoring language in existing law that specifies permitted solar energy facilities shall be made available for compatible agricultural activities at a lease rate that is at least fifty percent below the fair market rent for comparable properties;

(6) Specifying that the term "agricultural activities" means certain activities that meet the State's local food production goals;

(7) Inserting language to define the term "farm operation";

(8) Deleting language that would have defined the term "prevailing regional agricultural lease rate";

(9) Defining the term "agrivoltaics"; and

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

Your Committees further request that, should other Committees choose to deliberate on this measure as it moves through the legislative process, that they consider expanding the requirements that landowners leasing agricultural sub-parcels on property used for agrivoltaics prioritize lease offers for all farmers, not just beginning farmers.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment, Water, Land, Culture and the Arts, and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2371, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2371, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment, Water, Land, Culture and the Arts, and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs,

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair	________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair
	________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair