House Standing Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems

Good morning. Welcome to the hearing for... Oh, sorry. Let me try it that again. Good morning. Welcome to the hearing for the House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems. Today is April 1, 2025. This is not a joke. We're actually doing this despite it being April 1st.

This is 11:15am. I just wanted to note that. Convening in room 325. I'm Vice Chair Matthias Kusch of the Agriculture Committee, and today we have Chair Kirstin Kahaloa, Rep. Lowen, and Rep. Perruso. And Rep. Quinlan may be here, to be determined. Before we get started, I'm going to go over some brief housekeeping rules.

In order to allow as many people to testify as possible, there'll be a two minute time limit per testifier. Because morning hearings must adjourn prior to the noon floor session, not all testifiers may have the opportunity to testify. In that event, please know that your written testimony will be considered by the committee.

Please keep yourself muted and the video off while waiting to testify, after your testimony is complete with reference to Zoom. The Zoom chat function will allow you to chat with technical staff only. Please use the chat only for technical issues. If you are disconnected unexpectedly, you may attempt to rejoin. You may attempt to rejoin the meeting.

If you're disconnected while presenting testimony, you may be allowed to continue if time permits. Please note the House is not responsible for any bad Internet connections on the testifier's end. In the event that there is 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 avoid the use of any trademark or copyright images and please refrain from any profanity or uncivil behavior. Such behavior may be grounds for removal from the hearing without the ability to rejoin. Thank you. Today we have four measures on the agenda. Two measures, really.

The first is HCR 104 and HR 100, urging the Department of Education to strengthen the Farm to School initiatives. And first up to testify in person, Mr. Grewal of the University of Hawaii in support.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Vice Chair and the Members of the Committee. Parwinder Grewal, Dean of CTAHR. We strongly support this measure. We believe that Farm to School program are important and it can help us build a local resilient food system and encourage a lot more farmers to produce for local needs. And combine that with the regional kitchen project, it even makes more sense for us to use this opportunity to expand our local food system. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we have Keith Hayashi from the Department of Education in person. And not seeing him here. And then Nicole Galase from the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council in support on Zoom.

Thank you. Nicole Galase on behalf of the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council. We'll stand on our written testimony in support. Mahalo.

Thank you. We have overall 11 people in support, none in opposition, with one comment. Is there anybody here in the room who would like to testify?

Good morning, Vice Chair, Chair, Members of the Committee. Cedric Gates here on behalf of the Department of Agriculture. The Department is in strong support of this resolutions, and we are here for any questions. Mahalo.

Thank you. Anybody else? Anybody on Zoom? Members, any questions?

For CTAHR. Thank you, Dean, for being here. I just have a quick question about whether or not the DOE has already reached out to you to use your expertise in this area and if you're working in partnership with them at this point, or...

I'm sorry, I didn't hear. Who has reached out?

The Department of Education.

We have been working closely with them on multiple issues on this project.

I'm sorry, can you restate that? On what?

On multiple projects. Yeah. And we have been working pretty closely. Specifically, we have discussed how we will source food from local farmers and we have lent our expertise, as my testimony states, that we will provide all the necessary training to the farmers and help DOE in determining and sourcing food from the local farmers.

And do you have adequate extension specialists to do that work, or do you feel like those folks might be overwhelmed?

I believe that for now we do have. Because it's going to take a number of years for us to get to a point where the kitchen is actually sourcing the food. So for now, we are okay with extension agents. We have asked for staff positions to help extension agents focus on their work rather than additional things that they get to do. Hopefully, we'll get those positions in a separate measure.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. I also wanted to point out that there was the companion bill to this, House Concurrent Resolution 104, is House Resolution 100. There was nine in support, zero in opposition, zero with comments. And just wanted to let you folks know. Members, any further questions?

Seeing none, we'll move on to the next, HCR 195 and HR 188, requesting the University of Hawaii System to establish a Veterinary Medicine Expansion Working Group to explore the feasibility of developing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program at Windward Community College. So first off, we have Debora Halbert from the University of Hawaii with comments in person.

Still morning. Good morning, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. Debora Halbert, Vice President for Academic Strategy. We stand on our written testimony and happy to answer questions.

I would note that there's one addition from our prior testimony which is we would request a member of the system to be on this working group because now that it has evolved, the resolution has evolved to include Hilo representatives, Manoa, and Windward Community College, it would be useful for us to have a system presence, but otherwise, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Thanks.

Thank you. Next up, we have Stephanie Kendrick from Hawaiian Humane Society, on Zoom. Not present. She was in support. And Nicole Galase from Hawaii Cattlemen's Council on Zoom, in support.

Thank you, again. Yes, Nicole Galase, on behalf of the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council. We're in support of this measure because while UH Manoa offers a pre-vet track, there are currently no veterinary schools in the State of Hawaii, but it would be ideal to, for Hawaii to have a vet med program so that we can attract and retain talent here in the state. Access to veterinarians is crucial to livestock operations and we need professionals who are willing to work in Hawaii and to especially service those rural areas. Thank you.

Thank you. We have no other testifiers, and on the companion HR 188, none others. Overall, nine in support, zero in opposition, one with comments, and then the HR 188 HD 1 had six in support, zero opposition, and zero comments. Is there anybody else here in the audience who would like to testify on these measures, resolutions? Anybody on Zoom? Members, questions?

I have a quick question.

Okay, please.

For UH. So you're asking to expand the scope of this working group and I'm wondering if this expanded scope is, if you have the capacity to achieve the objectives of the expanded scope without additional resources.

When you say expanded scope, you don't mean the additional member, you mean the expanded scope?

No, I mean like, you know, you're talking about developing a clear, sustainable strategy that addresses a full spectrum of veterinary education and the demand for the programs and their potential integration in the UH System. So that to me is a big-picture kind of analysis, so I'm just curious as to whether you think that you have adequate resources.

Well, we're all stretched in these times on a variety of levels, but I think it's an exciting opportunity to bring together the different campuses, and we've already been--because of the resolution, we've been talking amongst the campuses. Because it's just looking for a feasibility study, I would hope that we could put that together in the timeframe allotted, and we do have a new Workforce Development Director who already has quite a bit on her plate, but she could also be an additional support for this kind of work.

Great. Thank you so much. Thank you, chair.

Members, any further questions? Okay, that's all the bills we have today. We will do a quick recess and go into decision-making.

One.

Welcome back to the 11:15 agenda of the Agricultural and Food Systems Committee. Wherever my agenda is. We're going to be doing decision making as all testimony has been completed for our measures today. First off, we have HCR 104 and HR 100, urging the Department of Education to strengthen farm to school initiatives. Chair's recommendation—I'm sorry, is there any discussion on this?

Do your recommendation first.

Chair's recommendation is to pass as is. Chair, Committee Members? Seeing no questions. Chair for the vote.

[Roll Call]

Thank you. Next, we're going to HCR 195, HR 188, requesting the University of Hawaii system to establish a Veterinary Medicine Expansion Working Group to explore the feasibility of developing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program at West Windward Community College. Chair's recommendation is with amendments. We'll be using the two suggested amendments from the University of Hawaii that was presented today.

Chair? Members, any questions? Chair for the vote, please?

[Roll Call]

Thank you and that concludes today's hearing and agenda. This meeting is completed. Thank you.