House Standing Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems

Aloha kakahiaka kakou. Welcome to the hearing for the House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems. Today is a little after 9:30 a.m. on February 12, 2025, and we are on the 9:30 a.m. agenda convening in Room 325. I am Kirstin Kahaloa, Chair of the Agriculture and Food Systems Committee.

Today we have with us our esteemed Vice Chair, Representative Kusch, and Representative Perruso. Before we get started, I have just a couple of housekeeping rules. In order to allow as many people to testify as possible, we will be having a two-minute time limit per testifier.

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Such behavior may be grounds for removal from the hearing without the ability to rejoin. Thank you folks for joining us today and for your testimony. We're going to start with our first agenda item on our 9:30 hearing, HB 48, relating to coffee labeling. And my apologies, first to testify--hold on. First to testify is Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Good morning chair, vice chair, member of the committee, Cedric Gates here on behalf of the Department of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture stands on its written testimony in support here for any questions. Mahalo.

Thank you. Next we have Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Morning, chair, vice chair, Representative Perruso. Brian Miyamoto here on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau was sent on the written testimony in support.

Thank you very much. We also had support from Food Policy Plus. That is all we have on the agenda to testify. Would anyone else like to testify today on HB 48? Seeing none. Members, questions? Seeing none. We're going to move on. You know what? I did not read what that bill was about.

Clarifies the labeling and advertising requirements for coffee that is grown and processed in the seat. Defines regional origin. Would anyone else wish to testify on HB 48. We're just getting started. Maybe not- not enough coffee this morning. Seeing no questions or other testifiers, we're going to move on to HB 222.

22 HD1, relating to the Wage and Hour Law, amends the definition of employee in Hawaii's Wage and Hour Law by excluding individuals who are primarily engaged in the range production of livestock. First to testify on HB 222 is DLIR. Is anyone here?

Good morning, chair, vice chair, and representative. Sheryl Lee, administrator for the Wage Standards Division, on behalf of Director Butay. We stand on our written testimony offering comments. Here to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next to testify is Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you, chair. The Hawaii Farm Bureau supports this measure.

Thank you very much. That's the only testimony we have today on HB 222. Would any--HD1--would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Seeing none. We're going to move on to HB 783, relating to irrigation. Oh, questions?

Yes. Representative Perruso.

I guess there aren't any ranchers here, so maybe the Farm Bureau. If you could help us understand the impetus or the need for this legislation?

Brian Miyamoto, Hawaii Farm Bureau. Thank you, Representative. And Nicole Galase, Cattlemen send their apologies. We actually have a board meeting this morning that I'm actually supposed to be on, so that's why they're unable to be here. My understanding is that the daily tasks of livestock producers vary widely on any given day and flexibility is needed.

There's an existing exemption for range production of livestock at the federal level and this bill amends HRS3 AD7-1 to match up with that exemption. I guess it's just the hours that the ranchers put in. They want the same exemption that they have at the federal level.

So they want to not have to pay their workers overtime if they're out on the range for more than an eight-hour day?

Correct. They want to be part of the exemption.

Thank you. Thank you, chair.

Members, any questions? See none, we're going to move on to the next measure, HB 783, relating to irrigation; authorizes the Director of Finance to issue General Obligation bonds and authorizes funds to finance capital improvement projects for irrigation systems. First to testify is Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Good morning, chair. The Department of Ag stands on its written testimony in support. Mahalo.

Thank you. Agribusiness Development Corporation.

Good morning, chair, vice chair, member of the committee. I'm Wendy Gady with ADC, and I wanted to liven up this discussion and ask that ADC's water systems be included in the GO bond, and for people that aren't familiar or are tired of hearing about irrigation, if you have health insurance, that's what it's about because it's fresh food.

If you have business insurance, that's what it's about because it's jobs. And if you have fire insurance, that's what it's about because it's about fire suppression. Every one of these systems, the water has been pulled by the Kauai Fire Department or the Honolulu Fire Department to mitigate fires. I'm here for any questions.

Thank you very much. Next, we have the Local Food Coalition. We have Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Aloha chair, vice chair, Representative Perruso. Brian Miyamoto, Hawaii Farm Bureau. You have our testimony in support. We've been before this body talking about the importance of water--no water, no Ag, no Ag, no food--and our aging irrigation infrastructure. So we did see Department of Ag's testimony and their request, ADC's testimony request.

We support all funding for all these irrigation projects. I would like to suggest and ask the Legislature, however, to consider maybe not amending this bill, but if possible, to amend the bill to transfer DOA's irrigation positions from the Revolving Fund to the General Fund.

The money that they get from the users that goes into the Revolving Fund they use for their operations, and that kind of jeopardizes our users. It almost forces them to either increase or use the water users' fees to run their operations.

We understand that's a model that may work in certain circumstances, but by putting in a General Fund, you'll take pressure off of the department of having to increase the water rates because of inflation or whatever needs they have for their operations. So again, we'd like the Legislature to consider.

We're not sure if we're able to do it in this bill. If so, we'd like to propose that amendment. It's nine positions totaling $422,604, and we can provide the committee with the breakdown of the positions if the committee would consider transferring positions from the Revolving Fund into the General Funds. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Next to testify--we don't have anyone else indicating--oh. You can join us. Come, come on up, Alan.

Thank you, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Alan Takemoto with Bayer Hawaii. Want to apologize. We haven't submitted testimony, but will do following the hearing. We just wanted to reiterate the strong support for this bill as irrigation is the lifeline of all of agriculture.

I wanted to reiterate also to see if we could reinsert Waiahole Irrigation System into the list of items being supported. So I know we have other bills moving, but the more vehicles we have, the better. So thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else wish to testify in this measure? We're on HB 783. Come on up.

Chair, vice chair, committee members, Scott Enright for Kekaha Ag Association, which is on ADC lands. The irrigation systems that are there and around the state have needed support for years. This is certainly true. My friend Brian Kau at the Department of Agriculture--all of their systems are in need of help and so, strong support of this bill in moving it forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? We're going to move to questions. Department of Ag, who would like to talk about irrigation?

Morning, chair. Brian Kau, Department of Agriculture.

Thank you. Question regarding moving the positions to the revolve--from the Revolving Fund to the General Fund. Does the department support that friendly amendment recommended by the Hawaii Farm Bureau?

We do.

Okay.

We do. Thank you. Sorry. Yes.

How will that be a benefit to the department?

Right now, the Irrigation Fund is--monies into the Irrigation Fund are completely controlled by water users, so it's the water delivery fee, and the fee that we charge pays for all of the operational expenses, including the labor expenses. Moving that off would probably save us between 30 to 50% of our actual operating costs.

We had a current request to increase water delivery fees specifically because they haven't been increased for so many years and we're falling behind on being able to continue to keep the systems operating correctly. So it would be a tremendous help.

Thank you. Members, any questions? Vice Chair Kusch.

Thank you. Oh, if you could come back real quick, I have a couple questions. So with these water systems, is the primary challenge just that the rising--you have--the number of--the pool of people who receive water is not enough to support the system's maintenance and manpower that oversees the individual systems or is it because there's a number of underutilized or unused participants that could benefit from the water, basically lots that are not taking water? I mean, do you have any sense of that?

The systems are comprised of a irrigation--like a zone, and anyone within this zone is allowed to petition or not--apply for the use of agricultural water. The expenses are primarily due to just inflation, unfortunately. Gasoline is more expensive. Cars are more expensive. Repairs to vehicles, hand tools, chainsaws, herbicide is getting tremendously more expensive.

The positions are union, you know, positions and salary increases over the past ten, 20 years have gone up so all of this has created a situation where it's become very, very difficult to maintain an adequate system because our primary objective is to keep the water flowing, right, on a limited resource because you can't--we can't make it rain, so we can't supply more water that we don't have, so the only option necessary--really--is to adjust the delivery fees.

When was the last time you guys raised rates? You said it was many years.

2006, I believe.

So 18, 19 years ago.

It's been a while.

Okay. Thank you. And then I have a question for ADC. If--Chair, you're all right with that? So--and forgive me, because I'm a freshman here. Reading through your list of irrigation systems here, are some private? Are all of them public and owned by the state or ADC or how does that work?

Thanks for the question, vice chair. Wendy Gaty with ADC, and all of the systems that are asked for are under the auspices of ADC. They are not in private hands. So the funds would be state funds used on state systems.

And Lower Hamakua Ditch is state or private?

That's not ours. That would be Department of Ag, so--

Okay, so this is strictly for ADC projects.

Well, there's Department of Ag projects, and then, you know, very specifically, the ones that I had asked to be included were the Waiahole--that's on Oahu and that's ADC--the East Kauai Irrigation System, Kauai, ADC--Kokee Irrigation is Kauai and the Kekaha Irrigation is Kauai and Wahiawa is on Oahu.

Okay, yeah. I saw the list. Okay, thank you. I appreciate the clarification.

Any other questions, members? Seeing none, we're gonna--I did want to summarize that for this measure, we did have 14 in support, one in opposition.

And we're going to move on to HB 685 relating to agricultural development, authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds to the Agribusiness Development Corporation for the purchase of a land parcel in Kau for agricultural development. First to testify is the Agribusiness Development Corporation.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee. Wendy Gady, ADC. And I think and talk to people that don't always understand ag because it's state tax dollars. There's 14 microclimates in the world. Hawaii has 12. The Kau parcel is one of the microclimates that we currently do not have in our portfolio.

It grows product that the other areas do not grow. And one of the dirty secrets that nobody wants to talk about is the fact that our food supply is even more unstable because most of our farmers are, if they're lucky, they're on a year to year lease. Many are on month to month, which is frightening.

So having this parcel of land allows us to give long licenses, which allows the farmers to invest in the soil and the equipment. I'm here for any questions.

Thank you very much. Next we have the Attorney General in person.

Good morning, Chair Kahaloa, Vice Chair Kusch and Member Perruso. Deputy Attorney General Alyssa Kau on behalf of the Department of the Attorney General. For ADC to acquire any lands they must follow section 136D 31B. And one of the requirements within that section is that the name and owner of the property must be identified within the bill.

And we did not see that in this bill. So in order to validly authorize the acquisition of the property, we would ask that the name and the owner of the property be identified. I'm here for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next we have Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you, chair, vice chair, Representative Perruso. Brian Miyamoto, Hawaii Farm Bureau. You have our written testimony and support. We can provide that information if you need that information for the bill. We want to prevent this parcel, which is about 146 acres from being purchased from somebody who may not have agriculture intentions.

We support the state purchasing large tracts of ag land to as you heard Director Gady, offer it up in smaller parcels to smaller farmers or- or to medium sized farmers or any farmers that are going to farm. There's a similar bill in the Senate and there's another bill that asks ADC purchase another parcel in Kohala.

So again we'd like to see ADC have as a statewide or state organization or entity have statewide assets. And so our testimony does say we would like to look at other areas of Hawaii island but also consider ADC looking or the Legislature looking at Maui County also.

Again about 146 acres, roughly $2.9 million is I think the asking price and we can provide the- the- the owner's name if needed. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. So we had seven in support, one with comments. No other is indicating that they wish to testify in this measure at this time. Would anyone else come on forward wish to testify on HB 685?

Chair, vice chair, committee members, Scott Enright testifying on my own. As a former Member of the ADC board, we for years were looking to try to find projects on the neighbor islands because for the most part ADC's work has been Oahu and Kauai centric.

When I was working at the Department of Agriculture I visited this site several times. It's a- an amazing site and so I hope we can move forward and purchase this and give it to the small farmers. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else wish to testify in this measure? Members, any questions? Just one for the Agribusiness Development Corporation, Wendy. Just to clarify, could you provide what the Attorney General's Office is asking in the bill to indicate the name and the owner of the property so we could move this forward?

Chair, vice chair. I can provide the name of the owner after the hearing to be amended and added. Not a problem at all.

Perfect. That is my only question. Members, any questions? Vice Chair Kusch?

Just a quick one for Wendy. Thank you, ADC. And I know this Myers Road is looking on real property tax. There's a county parcel within Myers Road is a county road. Roads in limbo Easement road.

I believe that it's a county road but I can double check and get back to you.

Okay. Yeah, I didn't see a road lot. I just wanted to see if you had more information on that.

I can do that. I'll get back to you.

Thank you.

Thanks for the questions.

Okay.

Any other questions, Members? Seeing none. We're going to move on to the next measure, HB 915, HD 1, relating to water use. Authorizes the Board of Agriculture to investigate and survey the availability of non-potable water.

Authorizes the Commission on Water Resource Management, as a condition for issuing permits, to require the use of dual line water supply systems in new residential and mixed-use developments, located in designated water management areas. Authorizes those residential and mixed-use developments to be included in irrigation projects, as defined in Chapter 167 HRS.

Requires the Department of Health, Board of Agriculture, and counties to update their rules ordinances to allow dual line water supply systems in residential and mixed-use developments. First to testify on this measure is DLNR, but maybe CWRM.

Good morning, Chair and Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Kira Kahane, Commission on Water Resource Management. We'll stand on our testimony in support.

Thank you for your testimony. Department of Health. Thank you. Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Hello, Chair. The Department of Ag stands on its written testimony and offers comments in support.

Thank you very much. We had two in support, one in with comments. Would anyone else wish to testify, testify on this measure? Seeing none. We are going to move on to questions.

For the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. One of the questions in your testimony indicated that there was a feeling that maybe the counties should be responsible for this. So, I just would like you to clarify your testimony. It came up in the other Committee hearing.

They put in their Standcom Report that we should determine that. If we don't make that determination, then it will go on to the next Committee with the same discussion and it really is in our subject matter in purview. So, can you kind of explain the concerns?

Sure. We, we tried to summarize it as succinctly as we could in our testimony. Essentially, what it comes down to is the irrigation system program, that we just kind of discussed previously, is very specific in what it does.

It takes, in most cases, either surface water, some cases well water, and it provides irrigation water without any guarantee of quality or quantity to farm lots. The farm lots generally are at least five acres in size and we—with much larger water meters than your traditional residential 5 and a eighth or three-quarter inch meter.

Because of that scale and what we do, we don't, we don't do any treatment at all, R1 or anything. We don't have any ability to do residential work. We are completely out of any kind of homes. There's no ability for us to do that.

So, essentially, what we're saying is if this becomes something that the Legislature wants the Department to take on, we are going to significantly—we're going to have to significantly increase our staffing in order to be able to implement this program. We have nothing to be able to do this right now.

Base yards, heavy equipment, heavy equipment operators, more positions—I mean the whole ball of wax. So, it's not that we don't support dual-plumb systems or anything like that. If it's a water conservation issue, then, you know, I think we're all for it.

We just wanted to point out that our ability to implement this would be extremely, extremely difficult. Now, as far as which county to go to, or County Department to go to, I don't want to hang any County Department on that.

Potentially, I guess, it would be a Department of Public Works, possibly, in some counties, others might be the County Water Supplies. I really couldn't say how they're constructed—you know, their labor divisions or anything are constructed. So, I wouldn't know for sure.

All I know that—is that—if it does come to us, we would have to do some heavy, heavy, heavy lifting in order to make this program work.

Just a follow up question. So, do you see that—what do you see as the intention of this Bill? Is it to offer other water uses for water conservation measures? Is this for the opportunity to offer more housing on agricultural lands? What do you—I'm trying to understand if this is even in the purview of the Department of Ag or not. And so, the intention of this Bill I think will help.

And maybe I don't understand what this water usage Bill, as much as I need to, but I'm just trying to get at that because we need to determine if this is under the purview of The Department of Agriculture, another state entity, or the counties, as suggested by your testimony—the Department's testimony.

We didn't draft this Bill, so I don't know what the drafter's intent was. All I can do is somewhat interpret from what the Bill language says and given what the language says, as residential and mixed use, there's no agriculture in there.

So, what we're looking at, potentially, is the Department of Agriculture, as listed in our testimony, having to control this alternate pipe for a condo or single-family home development, or something like that.

So, given what the words are in the Bill, the tie to agriculture, that I can see, is strictly the R1 definition of the water, which not only applies to agriculture. R1 usage can be other things too. It can be dual plumb systems for residences or commercial use or whatnot. It doesn't—the only use of R1 is not agriculture.

Members, questions?

Thank you. Question for CWRM. If you want to come up front, please. You know, the Department of Agriculture, you know, oversees, in their statute, everything related to agriculture. There are some statutes up—if we could strengthen them about agricultural housing.

Thank you.

But you know, I think, I think my concern is we're putting language about multi-use water usage but we're adding like mixed-use and more housing definitions within their statute. And so, I'm not sure if you can kind of explain why this would be helpful, to move this Bill and conversation forward.

I really—and I apologize, Kira Kahane, Deputy Director, Commission on Water Resource Management—I really don't have much to offer you on the sections, on the Sections 1 and 2 of this Bill. Our testimony was confined largely to Sections 3 and 4, which modify our statute.

We defer to the Department of Agriculture on modifications to their chapter of HRS. So, I apologize.

No, no, that's- that's helpful. Thank you.

Thank you.

Members, any other questions? See none. We're going to move on to the next measure. HB 858 relating to agricultural statistics. Establishes the Agricultural Statistics Program in the statute- in statute appropriates funds for the program. First to testify on 858 is Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Aloha chair. The department stands on written testimony in support. Mahalo.

Thank you. We also have Office of Information Practices. OIP? Not here, but with comments. The University of Hawaii, CTAHR.

Good morning chair, vice chair and Representative Perruso. We support the intent of this bill. Two recommendations or suggestions. One would be the change of the name of the college. But the other one is which is more important.

We at CTAHR have built capacity for in agricultural economics over the last few years and we have hired two new agriculture economists and we are hiring another one in food and agri marketing this year. And with that we already have two previously on our faculty, two agriculture economists.

So we are trying to build a Ag business and Ag marketing Ag economic systems center. So my hope is that we will be able to collaborate with DOA to build a more collaborative approach to building this agricultural statistics center for the benefit of the state.

As you can imagine that we could involve our students, undergrad graduate students and extension in the gathering and analysis of these data. With these faculty, we could deliver a lot more moving forward. So I just wanted to share that.

Thank you. And just one clarify. You called the positions in your division, what do you call them?

These are faculty positions and they are agricultural economists.

Economists.

Yeah.

Thank you. No further questions. Thank you. Next to testify is Ulupono Initiative.

Thank you chair, vice chair, and committee member. Ulupono Initiatve and we stand on our written testimony in support.

Thank you very much. We have County of Hawaii Re- Department of Research and Development in support. Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you, chair. The Hawaii Farm Bill will stand on its written testimony. In support.

Thank you very much. We had HEFNA in support. Purple Mai'a Foundation in support. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? See none, members questions? See none. We're going to move to HB 1497 relating to agriculture. Requires and appropriates funds for the Department of Agriculture to develop an online reporting tool for restricted use pesticide reporting.

Appropriates funds to convert temporary environmental health specialist three positions to permanent positions. First to testify, Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Good morning, Chair. The department stands on its written testimony in support.

Thank you very much. Hawaii Crop Improvements Association with comments. Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition in support. Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action via Zoom.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, members of the committee. HAPA. This is Anne Frederick on behalf of HAPA testifying in support. We really appreciate the effort to resource the department and being able to continue developing this online tool for reporting.

We would also like to suggest the following amendments. We would like to see a provision included which would require reporting within a square mile. To provide more geographic specificity and consistency. California currently requires reporting within a square mile. We'd also like to see the department report in a consistent unit of measurement more locally.

Right now, the department reports out totals of RUP by island. But folks who might want to know more specificity about what's being applied in their community do not have access to that level of information.

And I just wanted to share a little bit of background on kind of some of the advocacy efforts over the years really that grew out of communities that were concerned about their families potential exposure to drift and not being able to get access to basic information about what pesticides are being applied nearby.

Those efforts really began around 2006, 2008 and you know, the legislature took action in 2018 by passing Act 45. But I think it still hasn't really fulfilled the desire of communities to understand what's being used kind of directly adjacent to where they live. California, which is our largest agricultural state, has long required reporting within a square mile.

And that's why, like most of the public health studies that are credible come out of California, because you're really not able to conduct credible public health and epidemiological studies without that level of geographic specificity. So thanks again for support for this bill and we'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much for your testimony. We had an individual testifier in support. Those are the only listed to testify in this measure. Would anyone else wish to testify on HB 1497? Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you, Chair. We submitted late testimony.

Thank you. Would you like to elaborate?

My apologies, Chair. Brian Miyamoto on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau. We provide comments in our late testimony. We recognize and support the robust and evidence based regulations of pesticides used to maintain public health, agriculture production, and environmental protection.

The current system reporting could be more efficient and better facilitated by an online system that is easier to navigate for the department and for users. And as always, we support resources positions at the department so there can be more enforcement, there can be more outreach, there can be more education.

Again, any resource that we can provide to the department we're in support of because we need them to be at the level that they can support our farmers and ranchers. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? See none. Question for the Department of Ag Greg.

Good morning, Chair. Vice Chair. Rep. Perruso. Greg Takeshima, Pesticides Program Manager.

Thank you for being here, Greg. One of the questions from HOPA on their Second Amendment was reporting of a consistent unit of measurement. Is that easy? In the forms that are currently available, hopefully we can strengthen this online reporting to make it easier. But in that is there is it difficult to be able to add that?

So it's consistent across all people collecting and completing the forms.

So the form itself provides the users, or the applicators, the ability to basically fill in a blank. There is a drop down. And in our testimony we provided that we do have an online reporting tool. We just haven't been able to roll it out fully yet.

The dropdown would be helpful right because then with my staff, they take time to either review the handwritten ones or the submitted spreadsheets over to us. What we do in analysis though after the fact, once we get all eleven to twelve hundred or so submissions, is that we actually we do convert it in the annual summaries from 2023.

Moving forward, we created equations so that it automatically creates a standard reporting of pounds of active ingredient that applied. So we're moving towards that. And again, we do want to make it easier for both my staff and the applicators to provide us with accurate information.

Thank you. Any. Any other questions, Members? No, thank you. Seeing none. We're going to move on to the next measure. Next measure is HB 1294 HD1 relating to agricultural workforce housing. Establishes an agricultural workforce housing working group within the Department of Agriculture to address the shortage and challenges of agricultural workforce housing in the state.

Requires reports to the Legislature, appropriates funds. First to testify is hhfdc, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation. Are they virtual? No. Okay. In support. Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

Morning, Chair. Vice Chair, Representative Perruso. Aaron, for the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development. We stand on our testimony and support.

Thank you. Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Aloha, Chair. The Department stands on its written testimony offering comments.

Thank you. Agribusiness Development Corporation.

Good morning Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, ADC stands in support of this.

Thank you. State of Hawaii Land Use Commission. Thank you very much. We have Department of Hawaiian Homelands. Thank you, Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Aloha, Chair. The Hawaii Farm Bureau will stand on its written testimony in support.

Thank you. We had three other organizations in support. Kanalani Ohana Farm, Hawaii Farmers Union and Purple Maya Foundation. So that was eight in support, two with comments. Would anyone else wish to testify in this measure? Members, any questions? Seeing none. We're going to move on to the next measure. HB 1427 HD1 relating to Avian influenza.

Appropriates funds to the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture to prevent, monitor, and respond to avian influenza in Hawaii. First to testify on this measure is Hawaii Department of Health.

Good morning. Sarah Kemble, State Epidemiologist, testifying on behalf of Dr. Fink for the Department of Health. We stand on our written testimony as provided and I'll be available for questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. DLNR.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. I'm Afsheen Siddiqi with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and we stand in support and we have written testimony.

Thank you. Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Aloha, chair. The department stands on this written testimony in support of this. Mahalo.

Thank you. We have State Health Planning Development Agency, in support. Villa Rose, Waialua Eggs. Scott Enright.

Again, good morning, chair, vice chair, committee members. Scott Enright for Villa Rose, Waialua Eggs. We stand on our testimony in strong support, and I just wanted to comment that getting proactive on this issue for biosecurity and for animal industry is exceedingly important, so I applaud that effort. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next, we have Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you, chair, vice chair, Representative Perruso. Brian Miyamoto, here on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau. We're in support of this measure. This emphasizes our need to support agriculture to focus on import replacement. Can you imagine if there's another incident as the former director talked about in livestock?

What happens if we have something affecting our cattle, our limited dairy, our hog farms? We can't depend on importing food from the mainland. We need to grow agriculture here. I miss eating eggs and it's not a joke. I don't even know how much they cost, but the last two places I went to, the shells are empty, okay.

So we need to make sure that this doesn't affect our few remaining egg producers, but also our wild birds and our growing duck egg industry. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony.

Thank you, Brian. I think we all miss eggs too. Hawaii Food Industry Association via Zoom. Not present. In support. Kapapala Ranch, in support. Cheryl Toyofuku.

Aloha, representatives. I really appreciate being able to testify this morning. I'm a mom. My name is Cheryl Toyofuku. I'm a mom, I'm a grandmother, I'm a retired registered nurse. Thirty years ago, I did transition to more natural, non-toxic healthcare. I'm in strong opposition of this bill.

It's proposing a budget of approximately $3 to $4 million according to the Department of Health testimony and by Chair Greg Takayama and the Health Committee. I strongly oppose HB 1427, relating to the avian influenza, with funds being questionably appropriated to the Department of Health and Department of Agriculture in order to respond to this influenza.

Whether it is the avian flu, the swine flu, the monkeypox, or other viral outbreak like the Covid virus being trumpeted by the government, state departments, some industrial complexes, big pharma, media, these hyped and alarming fears are perpetuated onto our public. History and research disclose the collaboration of government, state departments, certain industries, and drug companies that immensely benefit financially and profit greatly from the frightened frenzy that's created.

Legislative bills are fast-tracked to appropriate funds to respond. Pharmaceutical drugs such as a historical Tamiflu, other antiviral drugs, or genetically engineered, toxic, and sometimes ineffective vaccines are already in stock or are quickly developed.

Allocation of funds to develop questionable solutions to these feared, planned epidemics have in the past followed vaccine agendas from the CDC, the WHO, the World Health Organization, or the World Economic Forum. These three-letter agencies and others are coming into serious scrutiny and questioning.

Instead, the appropriation of these funds--$3 to $4 million--should be allocated to healthier programs to improve our natural immunity. State departments, industries, legislation should encourage proper nutrition and healthy agricultural practice lifestyles while limiting toxic chemicals and vaccines. This would better serve Hawaii. So please do not pass this bill out of your committee. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. We had several others in support and some in opposition; 14 support, four in opposition. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Oh. Please come up and state your name.

Hi, I'm Teresa from Kaneohe, and I strongly oppose this House Bill 1427 in a similar fashion to what Cheryl's testimony was that I do not see a need to appropriate funds from the--especially given to the Health Department to develop more vaccines for, you know, for any kind of possible bird flu outbreak.

There are more natural, healthier solutions, and it seems like the only one to advocate vaccines, drugs and vaccines rather than healthier solutions, so I would strongly oppose that. And I also want to say that I see a connection between several bills that are being circulating through the House and the Senate relating to vaccines. There's already a--trying to appropriate funds for a Special Fund for--

We want you to keep your remarks to this measure. This measure only.

Okay, then I would oppose it because I think there are healthier, more natural solutions to boost up our immune system rather than always proposing drugs and vaccines. Thank you for allowing me to testify, and I ask that you would please oppose this bill.

Thank you for your testimony. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure?

If possible, I would like to testify virtually. My name is Amanda Fox from Animal Rights Initiative. I live in Waikiki. I'm also definitely opposed to this measure and I think that part of what people don't understand about avian flu is that the ducks, the waterfowl farms, are the vectors for avian flu, so it is there, the duck bodies that create different strains of HPAI.

There was even a new strain announced last week in California, and, you know, in France, where they have over thousands of duck farms to produce duck-related meats--they've had over 2,000 outbreaks--they're unable to mitigate avian flu outbreaks even beyond vaccinating, so the USDA actually prohibits imports of duck products from France because the ducks are asymptomatic carriers.

And basically, a supply truck driver can drive up to a duck farm and then to the next chicken farm or dairy farm and then all of a sudden 130 million animals need to be called out of our food supply. And this isn't the first outbreak that we've had. This has happened in the early 2000s and in the 90s, and repopulation of these ducks is not going to solve the problem and vaccination is not going to solve the problem. So thank you very much.

Thank you for your testimony. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Members, any questions? Seeing none, we're going to move on to the next measure. HB 365 relating to aquaculture prohibits certain octopus aquaculture. First to testify in this measure is DLNR.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members. David Sakoda for DLNR. Will stand on our written testimony and I'm available for questions.

Thank you. Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Aloha, Chair. The department stands on its written comments on this measure and here for any questions. Mahalo.

Thank you. Next we have Animal Rights Hawaii in support via Zoom. Not present. Animal Legal Defense Fund via Zoom.

Yes. Good morning, Chair Kahaloa, Vice Chair Kusch and Representative Perruso. My name is Lindsay Vierheilig testifying on behalf of the Animal Legal Defense Fund in strong support of this measure. At the outset, I just wanted to note a couple of things about the bill. There are currently no octopus farms in Hawaii.

Thus, this legislation would have no financial impact on existing businesses. It also would not prevent the sale of wild caught octopus, nor would it impose any restrictions on the fishing or consumption of octopus. We are absolutely not asking anyone to give up eating octopus.

In fact, it would protect local fishermen by stopping largely foreign interests from polluting Hawaii's waters and harming local octopus and fish populations. The legislation also does not prohibit the breeding or keeping of octopuses for research or educational purposes.

The reason for this bill is that there are significant welfare and environmental concerns associated with the potential factory farming of octopus. As anyone who has spent any time in the water with them knows, octopuses are extremely intelligent, complex animals and are simply not compatible with farming environments.

Moreover, the environmental risks associated with octopus aquaculture, including potential negative impacts on local marine populations, are just too great for a state as biodiverse as Hawaii to take on. Washington became the first state in the world to preemptively ban the farming of octopus in 2024. And California quickly followed suit.

Oregon is also considering a bill this session to do the same. The passage of this Bill in Hawaii would help to create a strong network of protections for the Pacific and also to help solidify Hawaii's place as a leader in environmental protection. You can find more information in my written testimony.

I respectfully urge you to vote yes on this bill. Mahalo for your time.

Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Animal Rights Initiative via Zoom. Amanda Fox, thank you very much.

Good morning, Chair Kaholoa, Vice Chair, members of the committee. My name is Amanda Fox. I live in Waikiki. Mahalo for the chance to speak in favor of House Bill 365. Octopus farms would pose a compound threat to Kona crabs and other marine populations.

It takes three to five pounds of crabs and fish to produce a single single pound of octopus, and this would require the diversion of millions of crustaceans and fish to be used as feed. Thousands of tons of waste generated from such a resource intensive diet would serve as fertilizer for toxic algae.

Bacteria releases heat while metabolizing and absorbing sunlight, which creates a feedback loop of prime conditions for toxins to rapidly proliferate. Hawaii's crustacean landings have drastically declined since 1997, with Kona crabs dropping from 30,000 pounds to a mere 5,000 last year and lobsters from 170,000 to a shocking 3,000 last year.

So we can't simultaneously intensify crabbing while also rapidly accelerating predation, harmful toxin deposits and warming waters. These exact conditions led to the collapse of the New England shrimp fishery, and we run the risk of creating the same conditions here. So please vote yes. Mahalo.

Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Bennett Powell.

Morning, everyone. Morning. Chair Kahaloa, Vice Chair Kusch, and members of the committee. My name is Bennett Powell. I'm from Kaneohe and I'm a student at Wynward Community College. I'm here today to speak in favor of House Bill 365.

The Kailuhe is a zone designated in the traditional Hawaiian ahupuaa as a place before the dark sea in which to catch octopus with lures. Octopus hunting is a sacred tradition held by the Hawaiian people.

Foreign owned artificial concentrations of octopus for the purpose of farming and exporting them simply is an insult to the aina, to God, and to the Hawaiian way of life. What is needed is the promotion and restoration of wild octopus in their natural ecosystems. We must support local fishermen and not foreign farmers.

A commercial farm for hay would endangerous hall. I Ask that you vote yes on this bill to protect Hawaii's natural beauty, honor, and stability for generations to come. Mahalo. Thank you.

Mahalo. Thank you for your testimony. We had 10 in support, 4 in opposition, and 2 with comments on HB 365. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Please join us and state your name for the record.

Good morning. My name is Reece Senda. I'm from Kauai and I'm here to voice support for Bill 365. Research for this bill began in 2021 when the UK recognized octopuses under their Animal Welfare Act. In 2022, plans were announced by Spain to intensively confine and process over 1 million octopuses per year. Many scientists have raised concerns about this.

In 2017, there was a catastrophe, releasing almost 300,000 Atlantic salmon into Pacific waters. State legislators were quick to react not only by banning net pen farming, but also later prohibiting octopus farming in 2024.

As I believe the woman mentioned a little bit earlier, because of their exceptional cognitive abilities, octopuses are known for escaping, making them much more likely than any other species to spread disease, parasites, and genetic mutations on farms to wild populations. And those things just tend to arise a lot more in enclosed farming methods like that.

House Bill 365 is a chance to protect our wild caught octopus fisheries and to align with local agencies to preserve our ecosystems that are already there. We're asking for a yes vote. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your testimony. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Members questions see none. We are going to move on to the next measure, HB3. Is that the next one?

HB 319 relating to cruelty to animals exempts from the crime of cruelty to animals in the second degree, the extermination of insects, vermin and pests, and the extermination of feral chickens on private property by the property owner, provided that the extermination is conducted in accordance with standard and acceptable pest control practices and rules adopted by the Department of Agriculture requires the Department to adopt rules first to testify on this measure.

Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

The Department stands on its testimony offering comments.

Thank you. Attorney General.

Good morning. Chair, Vice Chair, Member of the Committee, Kelsey Nagata, Deputy Attorney General, providing comments. Comments on HB 319. The deletion of, quote, all applicable laws and regulations, end quote, may have unintended legal consequences. We have provided some suggestions in our written testimony and I'm available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next we have Kathy Gogol, Animal rights. Hawaii via zoom not present. We have six in support, four in opposition, two with comments. Would anyone else wish to testify on this Measure? We're on HB319. See none. Members questions. I have a question for the Department of Agriculture. Would you like to testify?

Questions are not asked, but if you're giving testimony on the measure. Okay, you can come up. Sorry. Department of Agriculture.

Hello again. My name is Teresa Armbruster. And in relating to this cruelty to animals, there are reservations are opposition to specifically targeting feral chickens. It seems like this is related to the aviation flu outbreak. If you'd be able to exterminate all feral chickens. So I would say oppose that, especially targeting feral chickens about extermination of them.

So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Question for the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Morning, Chair. Members of the Committee, Dean Matsukawa, Deputy to the Department of Agriculture.

Thank you. In your testimony, we'd like to amend the bill to utilize the testimony. But you also mentioned that admin rules is not necessary. So can you just explain why if we take your amendments, why we do not need to add admin rules to this measure?

Okay. I believe our recommendation covers most of the actions that we need to take. We already have established rules, so if we have this in law, we'd be able to follow this. Okay. And then, you know, as we go along, we couldn't amend rules, but it's much easier for us to do that through our administrative process.

So as long as we have the. Law in place, we can follow that.

Perfect. Thank you.

Members, any further questions seen? None. We're going to move on to the next measure. HB92 HD1 relating to agriculture includes agricultural businesses as a qualified high technology business who receive tax credits for certain certain research activities. First to testify on this measure is Agribusiness Development Corporation.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, I'm Wendy Gady with the Agribusiness Development Corporation. We stand in support. The statistic from DBED is in 2035 in the State of Hawaii, deaths outpace births. We have a shrinking workforce.

Technology is one of the keys to success for our workforce as well as a key to our success for our economy. I'm here for any questions.

Thank you. Next we have the Attorney General's Office.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair and Representative Peruso. We submitted some comments regarding this bill and I'm available for testing. Any questions after.

Thank you. Next to testify is Corteva agriscience.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Mark Stoudemire along with my my partner Alica. We represent the R and D aspects of Corteva Agriscience in the state. We stand on our written testimony and support.

This will greatly enhance the ability of RD jobs, will drive innovation in the state, provide economic growth and will better align with national standards in this area. We're available for any questions.

Thank you. We also had Hawaii Crop Improvement Association in support Tux foundation of Hawaii via Zoom not present with comments. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure?

Morning, Chair, Vice Chairman of the Committee, Clinton Piper, Department of Taxation. I apologize for the late submission of our testimony. Shall I read it into the record or can I simply submit highlights?

You can submit highlights, whatever you're comfortable with.

I'm looking for your testimony was physically turned in and I do have an extra copy if it is necessary. The main issue that we point out in our testimony is the what taxable year that this bill becomes effective in by inserting this into an existing qualified high technology credit.

That credit was fully utilized in 2022 and every year thereafter. The full 5 million claimed within a approximately a minute of the credit being application process starting. So if we make a effective.

Sorry, if the effective date is in 2024 this bill won't be signed until after those certifications have already application process has already been exhausted so to speak.

That's the main concern especially if there might be any changing of the qualifications of what would qualify for the credit which is the reason why we put it off to requesting that we put it off to after December 31st of 2025 taxable year just to highlight the 5 million is already in existence and was utilized so well.

This would tap into that same 5 million that's already in existence. It wouldn't have an additional financial impact.

Thank you for your testimony. Would anyone else wish to testify? Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Good afternoon Chair. Vice Chair. Representative Peruso. Brian Miyamoto on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau my apology. Apologies. We did submit late testimony. We are in support of this measure. You heard previous testifiers talking about innovation farmers, ranchers. We need to get into 21st century technology.

So again I'll summarize a part of our testimony and if you don't have it, we'll submit our written but we did submit late written testimony. We want to remain competitive. We must adopt new technologies, improve efficiencies and develop innovative solutions tailored to Hawaii's unique growing conditions.

Again, we're in support of any measure that's going to support the growth of agriculture in Hawaii. Aloha.

Thank you. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? See none. Members questions? Vice Chair Kush.

Thank you. Chair for Department of Taxation Did I understand you correctly there's only a $5 million pool and that it's a first come first serve so it generally gets depleted right away.

May I ask is David here from dbet? The credit is overseen by a third party certification that's handled by Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

My understanding in speaking with them this morning and I'm loathe to speak for another agency but their application process for the credit starts on March 3rd and it has been was fully sorry spoken for within a minute of opening on March 3.

But the application is technically open until March 31 at which point there are no further applications. Taken, but DBED doesn't issue the actual certification until sometime after that. But in any event, the application is on first come, first serve and will have already been.

A lot of people come and served before this bill would be signed into law, which is why we're asking for the December 31, 2025 and after.

Do you have any idea like what's the volume of the tax credit need versus the pool of resource available?

I can't speak directly to that. I mean I can say it's my understanding there are several large taxpayers who are able to take a big chunk of that credit. There was discussion in prior years with the high technology, various high technology bills to try to move it towards a pro rata basis.

There was some discussion along those lines. It didn't gain traction in last year's session partly because of the difficulty in trying to figure out exactly how that pro rata would work. But that is something that has been raised in prior years. I've not seen the bill, similar pro rata bill in this year's session.

Thank you. And then I have either a question for Hawaii Farm Bureau. Thank you, Brian. Just quickly, do you have any examples of what might be a high technology that would be utilized that might might qualify that for this credit?

Brian Miyamoto, Hawaii Farm Bureau thank you. Vice Chair Climate resistant crop varieties, precision agriculture, maybe even some robotics. I know there's some research into mechanized harvesting, research on sustainable livestock production and feed alternatives and value added production is what we have listed.

Okay, thank you. All right, well, thank you. No further questions.

Thank you Vice Chair. Members, any further questions? Seeing none. We're going to move on to the next measure. HB 299 HD 1 relating to the Hawaii Invasive Species Council appropriates funds for the Native Resources and Fire Protection Program and Hawaii Invasive Species Council to ensure their long term viability and continue to control and eradicate invasive species in the state.

First to testify is DLNR.

Hey, good morning. David Smith with Forestry and Wildlife. I am here to testify in support for the Department. Thank you.

Thank you. Department of Health.

Morning Chair, Vice Chair Representative Perruso, Matt Carano, Department of Health, Environment Health Services Division. We submitted written testimony. We'll be available answer any questions. But I do want to highlight that. HISC is really uniquely able to move money in and out very effectively and get it to the ground in a very timely manner.

And I can't say that, you know. I can't support this enough. Thank you very much. I'm available for questions.

Thank you. Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

The Department stands on its written testimony and support.

Thank you. Hawaii Invasive Species Council.

Aloha Chair Kahaloa, Vice Chair Kusch, Representative Perruso. Chelsea Arnott on behalf of the Hawaiian Invasive Species Council and apologies for submitting late testimony on a Bill that would increase our funding.

We're in support of this and just want to clarify that Department of Land and Natural Resources only administers the Hawaiian Invasive Species Council and the funds go to the Native Resources and Fire Protection Fund. That's LNR 402.

But a majority of those funds get dispersed out to interagency projects and programs really to enhance between agency mandates, fill gaps and also a lot of research for new tools and technology.

And I mean I can point out to all the entities that benefit from HISC funds from Department of Ag Health, we had Division of Aquatic Resources, Forestry and Wildlife and of course the Island Invasive Species Committee so available for any questions. Mahalo.

Thank you, Chelsea. Next we have Hawaii Farm Bureau from Mililani.

Farm Bureau. Farm Bureau provides comments that we support this measure. We support this. Thank you.

Thank you, Brian. Climate Change and Health Working Group.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Rep. Perruso. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify. My name is James McCallen and I'm a public health professional speaking on behalf of the Climate Change and Health Working Group. I'll begin with some brief public health history.

In 1826, the first mosquito species, Culex, arrived to Hawaii by ship, bringing with it the potential for West Nile virus. By 1890, Aedes aegypti landed here, capable of spreading dengue, chikungunya and and Zika. Soon after, Aedes albopictus appeared, also risking dengue. By 1903, dengue virus itself arrived, leading to 30,000 cases across the islands.

The outbreak was eventually contained, but the mosquito species remained. Right now, diseases these mosquitoes carry, like dengue, no longer regularly occur thanks to eradication efforts. However, the mosquitoes remain and are able to transmit disease should they return. As recent as 2015, Hawaii saw another outbreak of dengue. Over 260 cases on the Big Island.

Then in 2003, a single Anopheles mosquito capable of carrying malaria was detected in Honolulu, a reminder that these arrivals continue. Thankfully, at that time, the Anopheles didn't set up a home here. This history matters.

Climate change is shifting temperatures and rainfall patterns worldwide, making it easier for invasive species and the diseases they carry to find new homes, live longer and reproduce faster.

It is impossible for a mosquito to fly across the ocean to Hawaii, but they can hitch ride on planes and ships and the diseases they carry come by unknowingly infected traveling hosts. Robust funding for the Hawaii Invasive Species Council promotes eradication efforts and protects us against these health threats. Mosquito borne illnesses are just one example.

Other invasive species like the coconut rhinoceros beetle, the fungus that causes rapid hia death, and invasive grasses devastate native forests, degrade tree canopies and fuel wildfires. Climate change is a public health crisis. I urge you to pass HB 299 to protect Hawaii's public health. Mahalo for your time. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Sierra Club of Hawaii via Zoom, not present, in support. Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, Stephanie.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Stephanie Easley with CGAPS. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and I'm sorry that I could not be there in person today. CGAPS is in support of HB 299 increasing funding for the Hawaiian Invasive Species Council and we submitted written testimony.

As we all experience, invasive species do not respect jurisdictional boundaries of departments. A pest found on agricultural land will spread to residential or conservation lands and vice versa.

Having HISC as a policy level council made up of Department heads and the President of UH or their designees to address evasive species issues across boundaries is critical to invasive species and response in Hawaii and is not duplicative of efforts of individual state departments.

We also note that HISC gets a big return on the State Dollars it does receive. 70% to 80% of its funds are provided as grants to support invasive species prevention and response, including research and development on new and existing tools, filling gaps where there is not other funding available.

HISC has been able to leverage its funds to get matching federal funds from this federal, matching federal funds in significant amounts in recent years and its small staff is able to carry out initiatives that are multi agency in nature.

Over the last year HIS has organized and facilitated the development of action plans for each county for Little Fire Ant, Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle and Koki Frog Prague under an interagency agreement between HDOA, DLNR and UH. And I'd also like to point out that HISC conducted a rulemaking for its new administrative rules in 2024.

They started, they got initial approval on May 29th in 2024 and those rules are now awaiting final approval by the Governor. We all know rulemaking can be a long process in Hawaii, but HISC efficiently and effectively moved through that process in well under a year.

The additional funds will allow HISC to continue this good work and thank you for the opportunity to support this Bill.

Thank you for your testimony. The Outdoor Circle in support. Kua Ulu Ao Kua in support. Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition in support. Oahu Invasive Species Committee in support. Green Party of Hawaii in support. Kauai Invasive Species Committee in support. Carol Kwan Consulting in support. Many testifier individual testimony in support.

Do we have Emilio Prado here for testimony? Those are the only, only that indicated they wish to testify. Please come up and testify. State your name for the record. Thank you.

Thank you. Good morning.

Chair Kahaloa, Vice Chair Kusch and Representative Perruso. Teya Penniman with the Maui Invasive Species Committee. Testifying in support for the proposed appropriation of funds for the Native Resources and Fire Protection Program and for the Hawai'I Invasive Species Council. As other testifiers of indicated HISC funding Supports work on invasive species prevention, early detection, control, research, outreach and education.

And the amounts distributed by the Hawaiian Invasive Species Council's competitive grant process has been vital for work in all of these areas. But the total amount has been flat for many years and was never adequate to address the growing threat from invasive species. Please consider increased funding for this important work. Mahalo.

Thank you. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Members, questions? Vice Chair Kusch.

Thank you, Chair. For Chelsea Arnott. So the total figure in your spreadsheet, and thank you for the breakdown, makes it clear how effective your organization is, is for $8.08 million. But then I also saw $10 million. Is there additional funds that aren't shown here or that come from other sources?

So we do receive General recurring $5.75 million. And then with the additional $4.25 million, that will bring us up to $10 million. A lot of organizations that receive our funding, pretty much all of them only receive partial funding and then they have to go out and secure additional funds to kind of make up what their request is.

The graph I provided is based on the total requested we get from applications every year versus what we have awarded. So that's basically what they need in order to have their organizations function. Most organizations know that they're not going to get all the funding they need from HISC.

And so they get federal, other state, county, et cetera, funds to support their programs.

Do they usually meet those objectives?

Yes, every year. The only year where we had deliverables that were not met were Covid. And we always, you know, offer the ability to explain why certain deliverables were not met. We have reporting guidelines that each project has to abide by.

If they collect spatial data, we ask for that on a biannual basis and then we have a final report at the end of the the funding year.

Great. Thank you. No further questions.

Members, any questions? Seeing none, we're going to move on to the next measure. HB 1237 relating to biosecurity appropriates funds to the Department of Agriculture for agricultural biosecurity and the prevention, detection and control of invasive species in Maui County. First to testify is Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

The Department stands on its offering comments but in strong support of this.

Thank you very much. Next we have Hawaii Invasive Species Council.

Rules testimony.

Thank you very much. Next we have Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you Chair. The Hawaii Farm Bill is down on. Its written testimony in support.

Thank you. Next we have coordinating group on alien pest species via Zoom Aloha Chair Vice.

Chair, Members of the Committee, My name is Stephanie Easley with SE gaps. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and speak of HB 1237. Having an HDOA inspector on island will protect Molokai and Lanai from the unintentional importation of pests.

The HDOA has the authority to conduct inspection of various products moving between the islands including cut flowers, foliage and other non propagated plant parts once they arrive on an island. And additionally an island on island inspector would have the capacity to detect plants and other material that was moved without proper inspection to those islands.

We also support funding to create funding for MISC for its important work lfa Koki fog and other species and to create an island Invasive Species Committee on Lanai to work with its existing frame framework to increase pest detection and RA response on the island. Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you for your testimony. We had others in other organizations in support. Six in support, one with comments. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Please join us.

Thank you. Ta Penniman again with the Maui Invasive Species Committee Chair and Vice Chair. We do support this measure and also want to give our mahalo for increased attention on invasive species this legislative session. I apologize our testimony was late. I failed to navigate this online system yesterday, so I came in person to highlight a few points.

We also support increased inspection capacity for Molokai and Lanai. We support the proposal for increased collaboration with what would essentially be Pulama Lanai and the Lanai community. MIS previously conducted extensive work on Lanai and this Bill has already prompted additional discussions or renewed discussions with Pulamo Lanai about the possibility of having a Subcommitee there.

So increased funding or dedicated funding would certainly help implement that. For Koki frogs. We are at a turning Point on Maui.

We have had strong support from the state and from the county in the past, but at present we really are at a place where we, we absolutely need additional support in order to do more than just contain the spread.

We have a robust community engagement program where we have more than 10 different neighborhood groups that are, are taking on control on their own, but they need support. They need sprayers, they need citric acid. They can't do it on their own.

In terms of little fire ants, this measure implies that there would be funding for control of little fire ants, but it's not really clear how that would happen or who would do that work.

MISC has worked in close collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and with Y ANT Lab ever since little fire ants were first detected there in 2009. But the reality is that staff from MISC have been the main force of people on the ground and in the air doing that control work.

So clarification, if the intent of this Bill is to provide additional resources we need, we would appreciate clarification about how that is intended to happen. As far as just my last point, or just yesterday, we were doing the drone treatment at the latest, one of our most recent detections on the North Shore.

So additional support for that continued innovation work would be helpful. My last point is that the Maui Invasive Species Committee is a project of the University of Hawaii Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit. And so any proposed allocation of funds for MISC should include language clarifying the University connection. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Would anyone else wish to testify in this measure? See None. Members questions? Vice Chair.

Thank you, chair. I think first would be mis or Chelsea. I guess let's start with mis. You guys. Mo might both come into this. So with this $2 million, I'm not really up to speed on how you mentioned it's a turning point for Koki frogs. Do you think this kind of money would allow you to eradicate them?

Or is this just a control measure? Because it's very specific about Coqui frog?

Sure. Yeah, that's a great question. And so for Maui, eradication is probably no longer possible because even it was questionable even when they were first detected in the early or in the late 80s, early, early 90s.

And we started working on it in the early 2000, early 2001, because it had already spread into a gulch, Maliko Gulch, heavily infested. So our goals have long been eradication of outlying populations, and we have eradicated nearly 30 of those over the years. So catching those when they're, when they're still.

It's a breeding population, but we're able to wipe those out. And then also responding to those single frogs that pop up all over the island, We've been very successful at doing that.

And then holding the line on those places where they would get into gulches that could then go into natural areas and then supporting communities to do control, providing them with the tools and the resources. So that's what it would definitely help with. Yes.

Okay. And this would be on top of the 950,000 that you requested on that was pointed out in your spreadsheet earlier?

Yes, that would be in addition to that, that funding helps support work on little fire ants and kogi fraudsters. That's your General budget. Yeah.

Yes, correct. Okay, thank you. I think that's it. I'm sorry, Chelsea, I didn't mean to drag you up there. Might as well stay. And then the next one is for Department of Agriculture. Thank you. Jonathan, in your testimony you talked about the inspectors in a part of this Bill and the difficulty in just the logistics of.

You mentioned Inspector 1 and 3, which doesn't have titles to me, but I kind of understand where you're going with that. So you have existing people who do this work on the intermittent cargo that comes.

So. So. Jonathan Ho, Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine Branch. So the way the inspector series is set up, they're stationed at the ports of entry. And legally the definition of ports of entry is where it first enters the state and entering the state means when the inspector inspects it and stamps it.

So historically, particularly for Molokai Lanai, there are no, there's nothing direct with the exception of maybe commercial flights and maybe private ships or sorry, private planes and private ships and the small goods that they may have. But most of the, like the traditional, like large shipment stuff is either done in Honolulu or on Maui.

So one of the, I think the issues, I think particularly with this is, and it's not to say that, you know, Molokai and Lanai don't deserve dedicated support. I think one of the big challenges is that like for example, the plant quarantine inspectors technically don't do.

I think everything that those communities really need realistically, I mean we can do one thing, but when you look at the fact that majority of the goods don't actually go to there, the duties and responsibilities that they would have on for a 40 hour workweek, yeah, it's a little hard.

So what we're doing now is we work really closely with the Molokai invasive species Committee and Pula Lanai because they're on the ground and you know, we're really thankful for that. And we currently send folks from Maui to Molokai directly on, on intermittent basins. So at least they can work with the community.

So people don't understand how to, you know, do a lot of the work that we do. My understanding is way back in the day there was a guy, his name, his name had to be guy guy. And a guy who was like this position that kind of did everybody's job.

I don't understand how that worked and I don't know when this happened, but. So he would do pesticides, he would do plant quarantine, animal quarantine, plant pest control branch work. I don't understand how that works in the league, in the, the D herd system, but that was there.

So that it was kind of like a Jack of all trades guy because I think everybody has a role to play. But because of the way the positions.

Are set up, just there's not enough volume. Yes.

So could you create a different position? I don't know how you would do that. Pay that guy more because obviously he would have more responsibility possibility. But then you would have a better use of that particular person on a four year basis.

I know there's no DOA person on Molokai or.

Not for plant quarantine. No. Or plant pest control branch and I believe pesticides as well. There's nobody for Molokai, right? Yeah.

Yeah.

So plant industry division. There's nobody.

Okay, thank you. No further questions.

Chair, One question for you, Jonathan. So how, how do we help support efforts Maui County, made up of multiple islands to ensure we protect their biosecurity? What is, what is the solution here? The representative who put this Bill together, worked with the county, is trying to address the concern. So how do we get there?

So if we don't take their particular recommendations via your Testimony on Section 2 on those positions, what can we do? Or can we create a omnibus Jack of all trades Department of Ag position that, that can try to do that support. Or do we hire another, another person?

I know they asked for two FTEs, but another person for the county that is more dedicated because you talked about the difference of the levels and difficulty in hire. We, we got to get people across the whole state doing this work. So how do we do this? Jonathan?

Right. So that guy in a guy thing anyway. I honestly don't understand how to do that. If that could be done. I think particularly for the smaller or the rural places where the staff aren't necessarily housed.

I think you have a lot of advantage, I think, moving forward with the increase in biosecurity because then you can, you know, instead of having three different branches, having a dedicated person, you could have a single person. Right. Who does less work.

And I think, I think in the short term while we figure that out, because I have no clue how to do that, we could increase our ability to get there from Maui.

You know, for example, you know, the boats, you know, provided that everything is on schedule, you can pre schedule and have guys go over and you know, do some monitoring as the barge gets offloaded and things like that. You know, we already try to do that at the ports before departure for Inner Island.

Just knowing that there isn't anyone there. Right. I mean, obviously you, you need to do that more. So, you know, we have random inspections. You're just, you're going into scanning things at the, at, at Young Brothers just because you don't know what's there.

Um, you know, and if we had more people, obviously we, we could do that more often. But I think right now probably the quickest solution would be to try to schedule staff from Maui on. I think they're going every two to three weeks now. And I think the barge is like once a week, something like that.

So we could, you know, quadruple our. The presence there. Obviously that wouldn't alleviate everything, but I think at least for the barge you could, you could really address a lot of that there.

Okay. For now. For now, I think maybe the issues is maybe we take away the plant quarantine specificity of the positions and just put positions for biosecurity at this time. We'll keep the islands.

So as we figure out what the best direct position is, we'll just say positions for biosecurity on each island right now just while we continue the conversation on this measure.

Yeah. And you know, and I think moving forward, if that is the case, I guess, you know, the, the anxiliary stuff, a location, a house or not a house, but an office and all that stuff because I don't know if any of that exists currently. Like an existing state facility that we could utilize. Yeah.

Someone can share space in an existing state facility. I'm sure we can find something.

Yeah.

Thank you, Jonathan. Members, any further questions? See none. We're going to move on to the next measure or final measure on this agenda. HB 775 relating to agricultural biosecurity appropriates funds of the Department of Agriculture for permanent positions in agricultural Biosecurity established by Act 231 SLH 2024 from last session. First to testifies Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

Good morning, Chair. The Department appreciates the author of this measure introducing this bill. We stand in strong support of this bill.

Thank you, Hawaii Invasive Species Council. zero, Chelsea moved.

Yeah, yeah, still here. Chelsea Arnott, on behalf of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council, we're in strong support of this measure and just in line with what the comments made by the Hawaii Farm Bureau about supporting local agriculture by supporting capacity at Department of Agriculture.

But also that protects our environment, it protects human health, and it protects our communities. Mahalo.

Thank you. We have Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chai,. Representative Peruso. Brian Miyamoto here on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau. We're absolutely in support of this measure. You have a written testimony. Want to point out, and I believe it's in the Department of Agriculture's testimony, that there is an error in the bill. On page two, basically right before line one.

The total of the positions is not 19,780,000 and change. We believe it's a lot closer to 3.18 million. We do offer a friendly amendment, however. We'd like to incorporate the programs from last year's HB 2619 CD1, which would be roughly $16.6 million worth of program to address invasive species.

We ask that the Bill be amended to include the programs, which would bring the total to what is currently in HB775 of 19,780,660. Again, we appreciate the Legislature funding the 20 million, appreciate the Governor releasing the 10 million.

But as I said in a testimony yesterday, the estimated cost to address invasive species currently in 2025 is roughly $88 million. So an additional $20 million for the next two fiscal years is that's what we're asking for, because that's what the Bill asked for for the positions I think is warranted.

And again, invasive species is damaging our environment, our fragile ecosystems, our public health and agriculture. And if I may violate a little bit of protocol. Chair. Emphasizing and demonstrating how important agriculture is and how important your hearing is today.

We have two former Department of Ag chairpersons in the room, former Director Scott Enright, former Director Felicia Geiser, and also our former House Ag Chair from the last two sessions, Representative, Former Representative Cedric Gates.

So again, we thank you for the measures that you've been putting forward and especially today, because they came out in force and they came on force for this particular Bill, which is I believe you introduced. And it is Farm Bureau's number one priority. So this is probably the BBE best Bill ever.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

BBE thank you, Hawaii Farm Bureau Stephanie Easley, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species via Zoom.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Stephanie Easley with CGAPS. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. We note that only HDOA has the authority to conduct inspections at ports of entry, and these inspections are a line of defense preventing pests from entering the state.

As we noted in our written testimony, HDOA receives less than half of a percent of the state's budget to support all of its branches and functions, and the appropriation of funds in this Bill would support HDOA's core biosecurity functions. Thank you. Mahalo.

Next to testify is Sarah Duel via Zoom.

Aloha Chairman, Vice Chair and Committee Members. Mahalo for taking the time to listen to my testimony. My name is Sarah Duel and I'm in my last semester of applause obtaining my Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies at Hawaii Pacific University.

I've also been a resident of Honolulu for five years and I would like to offer my support of House Bill 775. Biosecurity is very important for preserving the unique plant life throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii, despite the state's best effort, is falling victim to the changing climate.

Being the endangered species capital of the world means our unique wildlife and plant life is threatened by something we can cannot fully control. Ensuring foreign foreign plants and animals are not being introduced into the island is an effort we can take to lessen the struggle of these already fragile life forms.

Allotting jobs to protect the one of a kind plants will benefit future generations of Hawaiian residents and visitors. In my environmental ethics class there was discussion on how ethical is to preserve resources for future generations and if we are morally responsible to protect them.

Protecting native Hawaiian plants is essential to maintaining and preserving the history and culture of Hawaiian islands and people. One of the native flowers on Hawaii is the nanu flower and it's endemic to five of the islands. This flower holds significance to Hawaiian history since the flower is used in making dyes and leis.

And if we have more biosecurity, we can protect these plants better from going extinct and being threatened from water competition and urban expansion and wildfires and animal predation. And hiring more entomologists and environmental health specialists can help protect these plants further. Mahalo for taking the time to listen to my testimony and why I Support House Bill 775.

Thank you for your testimony. We had 16 in support from organizations and individuals. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure, please?

Misk Taya Penniman, Maui Invasive Species Committee also supports this measure. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Would anyone else wish to testify on this measure? Members, any questions? We're going to recess to suspend this meeting and DM after the 11:00am hearing, which we have two more measures on. So we are going to do that right now. Recession.

Aloha kakou. Welcome to the hearing for the House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems. Today is February 12th, 2025 and we are starting our 11am agenda and we're here convening in room 325. I am the chair of the committee, Kristin Kahaloa, and today we have with us Vice Chair Kusch and Representative Perruso.

We do have some housekeeping rules. We'd like to keep your remarks to two minutes so that we can hear everyone's testimony before proceeding to our session at noon. For those of us joining via Zoom, please keep yourself muted and your video off while we wait to testify.

And after your testimony is complete, the Zoom chat function will allow you to chat with only the technical staff. Please use the chat function for technical issues. If you're disconnected, you may attempt to rejoin the meeting. If disconnected while presenting testimony, you may be allowed to continue if time permits.

Please note that the house is not responsible for any bad internet connections on the testifier's end. In the event of a network failure, it may be necessary to reschedule the hearing or schedule a meeting for decision making. In that case, an appropriate notice will be posted.

Please be respectable today and do not use any trademark or copyrighted images or refrain from profanity or uncivil behavior. Such behavior may be grounds for removal from this hearing. Thank you folks for being here for our 11am agenda. Our first measure on the 11am agenda is HB 1013 HD1 relating to important agricultural lands.

Establishes an important agricultural lands incentive to provide alternative means to develop housing for farmers and farm employees. Authorizes a landowner or lessee of important agricultural lands to apply to a county for a permit allowing the landowner or lessee to develop, construct and maintain farm cluster housing. Requires each county to enact ordinances to allow for this measure.

Establishes requirements for farm cluster housing and repeals existing requirements for farm dwellings and employee housing on important agricultural lands. First to testify today is Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation HHFDC not present in support Hawaii Office of Planning, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Mary Alice or others. Opsd.

Yeah.

Aaron Serigawa for the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development. OPSD stands on its written testimonies in support and it is an Administration Bill.

Thank you, Hawaii Land Use Commission.

Thank you, Chair Members of the Committee, Daniel Aradankar, Executive Officer for the Land Use Commission. We stand on our written testimony. However, I'd like to elaborate on the third paragraph which talks about this Supreme Court hearing or the Supreme Court case.

One of the issues that was raised when the city and County of Honolulu tried to do an IAL designation was whether or not there was a due process issue. Because the rules with regard to housing and residential in an agricultural district were different in the IAL portion of Chapter 205 than the regular agricultural portion in 205.

That issue is up on appeal at the Supreme Court. And although the Land Use Commission strongly supports this measure, we have concerns that messing with the IAL statute at this point in time may be rendered moot because of the Supreme Court. And that's our only concern.

Thank you for your testimony. Next we have Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

The Department stands on testimony in support of.

Thank you. We had debed in support Hawaii Farm.

Bureau farm on this written testimony in support.

Thank you. And we had several others with individuals and organizations in support. 3 Comments Would anyone else wish to testify in this measure? Please join us.

I'm Peter Savio. I'm not sure if I support or oppose. I like the concept of the bill, but to me this bill is for the wealthy, large corporate farmers, the mainland farmers who want to come in and build housing to their benefit. It doesn't seem to allow for small local farmers to buy land together.

I'm doing three condos also to local farmers. All going to involve affordable plantation lots and a plantation camp, which is the local term for what you're describing as a planned unit development. But it doesn't sound like that's allowed because my people are going to own their house and they're going to own their land in fee.

The provisions I like, I like the idea of the land going in. But this bill is not benefiting the local guys. This bill is benefiting the large, wealthy corporate farmers, which are the very ones we should be worried about. And it's eliminating all the local farmers.

The other thing you have to realize is ag is the one place we can build thousands of affordable units because the Federal Government has farmer's home loan, 100% financing, lower interest rates, easier to qualify. Yet we don't use it because our ag restrictions basically restrict the home, restrict the plantation camp. I'm excited about that part.

But again, guys, think of the little guys, not the wealthy. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony, Peter. Would anyone else wish wish to testify on this measure? See none. Member, question?

I may Mr. Savio, if I could ask you a question. Did you have any insight into amendments to this bill that would satisfy those concerns that aren't, you know, I'm extremely passionate about affordable.

I'm extremely passionate about local people. I'm not a good attorney. I'm somewhat dyslexic, so I tend to get things confused sometimes. But I'd be happy to sit down with someone if they want to discuss it. The key is you should allow for a condominium. You should allow for the condo.

Allowing for like in my condos, they're 1 and 2 acre lots. So the farmers buy the lots, but with that Extra Ag Lot comes a potential house lot in the camp. They get the house lot for free. It comes with their ag lot.

They have to pay for the infrastructure, but the land is covered for in their price. Okay. So they have to be farmers. They have to actively farm. There's an organization, the co op or the condo that will see they do what they're supposed to do. I read this Bill.

I don't think you allow for condos, which is an ownership form. You don't allow for the small farmers. Right. You allow for the large farmers. So the Bill works for what you're trying to do in terms of bringing land into this prime ag program.

And the only guys that are going to bring the land in is the wealthy guy who wants to make money on the housing, not necessarily the farming. The local guys will bring it in. They'll put the land in because they don't care. It's their home, it's their future.

But I don't think there's a provision where that is allowed. And I'd be nervous that you won't allow the condo because it doesn't says the condo's not allowed or doesn't say it's not allowed. It doesn't say it is allowed.

So I mean, to me, the Bill sort of is a very narrow Bill targeted at 1.0 but it's missing the bigger target of affordable housing, local ownership financing. I mean, everything good is being forgotten because you want to go into prime agricultural land, which is important.

But the other four or five things are more important because if we can get affordable farms, we can get our people on the farmland. We can get our people working, we can get them financed. You got to realize in Hawaii our buyers do not have down payments because they're all Alice families.

We're all struggling to survive month to month. If you find a program where the Federal Government will finance 9995100% winner. So the concept is there, but you guys need to broaden this to include the local guys. This is not a local guy Bill. This is Mainland Hawley.

Copy that. Sounds like you and I gotta talk. Thank you.

Any other questions? Land Use Commission. Thank you. Chair, just had a quick question on. You know, I know this is in the statute relating to important agricultural lands. Just wanted to make sure other counties do not use that designation. That designation is more of an Oahu based term.

Does this measure then incorporate and include all counties across the state? The important agricultural land?

Yeah, the important agricultural land statute covers the entire state, so every county can take advantage of it. And any changes that you make to Chapter 205 in the IAL section of Chapter 205 will apply to all counties.

Perfect.

And as would the Supreme Court decision.

Thank you. Any further questions, members? Moving on to our final measure, HB 1417 relating to farms creates an exclusion from income tax for the first $50,000 of income earned by farmers. First to testify on this measure is DOE tax. Thank you very much. Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Thank you.

We have Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you, Chair. In observance of time, Hawaii Farm will stand on its written testimony in support.

Thank you. Tax Foundation of Hawaii. Tom Yamachika.

Good morning, Chair and members of the committee. This is Jade McMillen on behalf of Tom Yamachika for the Tax Foundation of Hawaii. We've submitted some comments on the measure. In the interest of time, we'll stand on our written comments. Thank you.

Thank you. We have 13 in support, 3 of comments. Would anyone else wish to testify in this measure?

Thank you. Chair, Vice Chair, and member of the committee, Representative Lowen. I'm sorry that this testimony is late. Cynthia Johiro for the Attorney General's Office. We did submit comments regarding the statute itself. We believe that the statute that's being referred to in the bill is an incorrect version of the statute.

It is the older version of the statute. And so we recommended that paragraph 13 and 14 of the bill be deleted because it is part of the old statute, not the current version of the statute. I do have. Oh, I do have extra copies for the committee, but if you have our testimony.

I see it right here. Thank you very much. Would anyone else wish to testify in this measure? Seeing none. Members, any questions? Okay. We're going to move straight to decision making because we have quorum on the 11am agenda. Not to be confused. Yep, we're going to vote. So recommendation for HB 1013 HD1 recommendation.

Thank you.

Yes. 11:00am agenda. Since we have that agenda open right now. And then we'll. We'll recess into the 9:30 agenda. HB 1013, HC1. My recommendation is to pass this measure as is. Members, comments? Questions? Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Voting on Bill HB 1013 HD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Chair and Vice Chair vote I.

[roll call]

Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Moving on to HB 1417. My recommendation is to keep this conversation going and pass with amendments. We want to defect the date to July 1, 3000. Do technical amendments for clarity, consistency and style. We do want to take the the testimony from DOE tax to strengthen the language of farm products. I think that's important.

And we want to take the Attorney General's recommendation so thank you for providing those amendments as well. That will be all. Members, comments? Questions? Vice Chair for the vote.

Chair voting on HB 1417. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair vote I.

[roll call]

Chair, recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, members. Thank you everyone for your testimony on the 11am agenda. There's no further business on this agenda. Thank you. We are adjourned.

Am I ready? Wait, let me just get.

We are reconvening the Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems for decision making only on our 9:30am agenda this morning. First measure on the agenda is HB 48.

We're going to defect the deed to July 1, 3000, make technical amendments for clarity, consistency and style, and we do want to note in the committee report that the Hawaii Department of Agriculture requires requested positions so we want to put those in the committee report. Members, any comments or questions? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Voting on HB48. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments.

[roll call}

Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Moving on to HB222 HD1. My recommendation is to move this bill as is. Members, questions? Comments? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Voting on HB222 HD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass as is and Chair and Vice Chair are voting I. Noting Representative Ward is excused absence for this vote and all continuing votes unless he shows up. Is there any no's?

No vote.

No vote. So noted. Is there any other no or with recommendations? Seeing none. Chair, your measure is adopted.

Thank you, Vice Chair. moving on to HB 783 relating to irrigation. We're going to defect the date to July 1st, 3000, make technical amendments for clarity, consistency. We're going to line item all funding request. We are going to, when I say line item, put all the funding requests of the HDOA and the ADC on the bill.

Right now it just had a total. We want to indicate which irrigation area, which region, and for how much. Line item sounds like deletion. Sorry about that. I don't know how to read my notes.

So we want to note all of we will not include the appropriation amounts but all the items that need appropriation for both HDOA and ADC. We want to notate their funding requests in their committee report.

And we also are going to put HDOAs or the request from Hawaii Farm Bureau to move the positions from the revolving fund to the general fund and see if we can do something about that. So that's nine positions just to continue the conversation. So that is all we have on this bill. It's very important.

We need water for food. So that's why we will put all of the irrigation requests across the state in this measure to continue the conversation.

But I will request the Department of Ag and ADC to send me a list to prioritize those needs so I can notate what to fight for or not in future conversations on the budget. Members, any comments or concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on HB 783. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair vote I. Is there any nays or with recommend or reservations? Seeing none. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Moving on to HB 685 relating to agricultural development. We would like to defect the date to July 1st, 3000 on this bill. Make tech amendments for clarity, consistency and style. We do want to blank the appropriation, but note the appropriation amount in the committee report.

We are going to take the AG's recommendation to strengthen the language on the ownership of lands, particularly the name and owner of the property which will be provided, which has been provided to us already, and ensure that it is ultimately clear that the ADC is going to make this acquisition because that was also a question and testimony.

So we're strengthening that language as well. Members, any comments or concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you. Chair voting on HB 685. Chair's recommendation is passed with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair vote I. Is there any nays or reservations? Seeing none. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Moving on to HB 915 HD1. My recommendation is to pass as is, but we do do need to notate, just like in the previous committee, on whether it's the department's role or if it is the role of the counties to effectuate the intention of this measure.

So I will do more research, but we will move this to keep the conversation going and pass as is. Members, questions? Comments? Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Voting on HB 915 HD1. Chair's recommendation is passed as is. Chair and Vice Chair vote I. Is there any nays or reservations? Seeing none. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Vice Chair moving on to HB 858 relating to agricultural statistics. My recommendation is to continue the conversation and defect the date to July 1st, 3000, make tech amendments for clarity, consistency and style, blank the appropriations in the FTE and notate those numbers in our Standing Committee reports.

We're going to take OIP's recommendations similar to that with HB 1393 that we heard last week. And we also also are going to take CTAHR's amendment to correct their name and make it appropriately on and that was on page 5, lines 11 and 12. Take out resources to put resilience instead and notate that.

And we also want to put in the committee report that CTAHR has one ag economist and we'll add a second one shortly and we hope that these positions get funded and will work with CTAHR's position as well. Members, comments? Concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Voting on HB 858. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair Vote I. Is there any nays or reservations? Seeing none. Charity recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next 1490. HB 1497 related to agriculture. We want to defect the date on this bill to July 1st, 3000. Make tech amendments for clarity, consistency and style. We're going to blank the FTE and notate the appropriation in the committee reports.

I want to note that HOPA did request an amendment, but that is in process as we move forward. If we pass this bill and the online reporting tool is there, they are doing that work to ensure that there's consistency in the unit of measurement. Members, any questions or concerns? See none, Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Voting on HB 1497. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair Vote I. Any nays or reservations? Seeing none. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Voting on HB 1294 HD1. My recommendation is to move this bill as is. Members, questions? Concerns? See none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you. Chair voting on HB 1294 HD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Chair. Chair and Vice Chair voting I. Is there any reservations or nays? Seeing none. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next measure HB 1427 HD1 relating to Avian influenza. I'm going to recommend moving this as is, but note the funding request from the Department of Health and HDOA in the Standing Committee report. And members, any questions? Comments? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Chair, thank you. Voting with, I mean, passing with amendments. As is. Okay. Voting on HB 1427 HD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Chair and Vice Chair voting I. Is there any nays or reservations? Seeing none. Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Moving on to HB 365 relating to aquaculture which want to move this bill forward and continue the conversation. We need to defect the date to July 1st, 3000 in order to keep this bill moving and make light technical amendments for clarity, consistency and style. And that is it for that measure.

Members, questions? Comments? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on HB 365. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair voting I. Is there any nays or or reservations? Seeing none. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Moving on to HB 319 relating to cruelty to animals. I think this is an important measure that we need to continue talking about. So let's defect the date to July 1, 3000. Make tech ammendments for clarity, consistency and style. We want to take Hawaii Department of Ag's recommendations to move the area in which they're establishing this statute.

And they also said that would if we take their recommendations we wouldn't need admin roles. So we want to strike the need for admin rules by the department in the measure.

And then they also asked for an amendment in subsection E in quotes as long as the poison is legally used or delete is designed for the intended insect vermin and pests in the product label list in target space species or so I've been told that pesticide law allows for use on pests not on the label unless specifically prohibited.

So subsection F delete approved and replace with licensed. So sorry to read those words because it wasn't in their written testimony. Members, any questions or concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on HB 319. Chair's recommendation is passed with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair voting I. Is there nays or reservations? Seeing none, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, members. We're almost done. HB 92 HD1. I would like to move this bill and defect the date to July 1, 3000. Do technical amendments for clarity, consistency and style. Take Ag's amendments and DOE tax's recommendations. Although DOE tax wants to change the year.

We need to put that in the standing committee report because we're blanking all dates on this measure. Members, any questions or comments seen? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Voting on HB 92 HD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair voting I. Is there any reservations or nays?

Reservations. I just want to note that I would be deeply concerned if these funds taxpayer monies were going to be used to externalize the costs of some of our agricultural businesses that are not producing food. So thinking of the GMO multinational corporations. So for that reason I'm voting with reservations.

Thank you for sharing your concerns. Noted.

Is there any other nays or reservations? Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Moving on to HB 299 HD1. My recommendation is to pass as is. Members, comments? Questions? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you, Chair. Got it. Voting on HB 299 HD1. Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Chair and Vice Chair voting I. Is there any reservations or nays? Seeing none. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Two more measures, HB 1237 relating to biosecurity. We do want to continue the conversation on this measure. It's important and I appreciate that there's a countywide approach and request for biosecurity. I hope every county does that in the future.

We want to defect the date to July 1, 3000 blank the appropriation amounts and the FTEs and notate it in the committee reports. We want to do tech amendments for clarity, consideration, consistency in style.

We want to take UH's amendment for Section 3, Page 4 and 5 that it's the university that will be recipient of those funds, not directly to the MISC. So we want to clarify that.

And in Section 2, the two descriptions on the FTEs, we want to say general professional for biosecurity efforts so that we can figure out what is the mechanism to support both Lanai and Molokai in this measure. Members, questions? Concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.