House Standing Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems

Good morning. This is the Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems in Conference Room 325 here at the state capital, scheduled for today, which is April 8, 10 AM committee hearing. Thank you, everyone, for being here in person and on Zoom. My name is Matthias Kusch. I'm the vice chair of the Agriculture Committee.

Couple ground rules I'll go over before we start. Because the morning hearings must adjourn prior to the floor session, all testifiers may have the opportunity to testify. In that event, please know that your written testimony will be considered by the committee. In order to allow as many people to testify as possible, there will be a two minute time limit per testifier. We may waive that if necessary.

Okay. For those on Zoom, please keep yourself muted and your video off while waiting to testify and after your testimony is complete. 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 the meeting.

If disconnected while presenting your 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 of a network failure, it may be necessary to reschedule a hearing or schedule a meeting for decision-making. In that case, an appropriate notice will be posted. Please avoid using any trademarked or copyrighted images if you're using Zoom background.

Please refrain from any profanity or unsung behavior. Such behavior may be grounds for removal from the hearing without the ability to respond. Finally, we have a new microphone system in the house conference rooms. The microphones are now on the ceiling, so please be aware that any site conversations may be picked up. K.

Morning. Moving on to our agenda. First on our agenda, we have HCR 31 and HR 31 recognizing 2026 as the international year of rangelands and pastoral pastoralists in Hawaii. First up to testify in person, we have Brian Miyamoto from Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Vice chair, chair, representative Perruso, representative Matsumoto, and Brian Miyamoto here on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau and, apparently, the entire agriculture sector here in the state of Hawaii. We will stand on our written testimony in support of these two resolutions. Rightly acknowledging how important our rangelands are and our pastoralists are. And if the committee would maybe consider instead of international, global or universal year of the Rangeland and customers. Pretty sure Nicole wouldn't want that.

But, anyway, we support this. We support our our ranchers on Paniogo. And thank you for this is rezo to give them the the credit that they're due. Aloha.

Thank you. Next up, we have Nicole Galassie from Hawaii Cattlemen's Council on Zoom.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. This is Nicole Galase on behalf of the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council. We are in strong support of this resolution because we do want that recognition of the benefits that come from well managed rangelands. These are benefits that go outside of the ranch to the surrounding community, things like wildfire mitigation, groundwater infiltration improvement, increased water, increased carbon sequestration. And this is something that is actually being celebrated internationally right now, the International Year of the Rangelands and Pestoralist.

And it's something we just wanna recognize in Hawaii as well to show that we do see the benefits that come from well managed rangelands. And on top of all the benefits, one of the top ones is that there is the food production from beef. Thank you very much for your consider.

Thank you. That's all the people we have listed. For testimony, is there anybody in the audience who would like to testify who has not testified already? Anybody on Zoom? Seeing none.

We had two people in support, zero in opposition, and zero comments. Members, chair, is there any questions for our testifiers.

Seeing none. Moving on to HCR94 HD1 and HR86 HD1. Virginia Department of Education and Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to jointly develop a farmer-to-institution coordination plan that is aligned with the INA kitchen network rollout? First up, we have Brian Miyamoto from Hawaii Farm Bureau in person.

Hello, Brian Miyamoto here on behalf of Hawaii Farm Bureau, in support.

Thank you. On Zoom, we have, Nicole Galase from Hawaii Cattlemen's Council. Not present. Is there anybody else who would like to testify in person? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay. Seeing none. We had two in support, zero opposition, and zero in comments. Chair, Members questions? Seeing none.

We're gonna move on to HCR 24, HR 23. Requesting the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to conduct a study on Hawaii's food manufacturing strengths and strategic markets. Okay. We have Lauren Sorbel from Hawaii Food Industry on Zoom. Not present.

And that's it. Apologies here. We had five in support, zero in opposition, zero comments. Is there anybody else who would like to testify on this measure? Sir?

Our apologies, Brian Miyamoto, for the record, on behalf of the Hawaii Farm Bureau. We we did submit written testimony in support. So if you the committee has not received it, we do have a copy. But we are in support of of this resolution in support of any effort to utilize or to encourage more value added utilizing locally grown and produced agricultural products.

Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anybody else who would like to testify? Anybody on Zoom? Members, questions? Okay.

Seeing none, we are gonna take a brief recess before we go into decision making. Welcome back to the 10 AM agricultural Agriculture Committee hearing. We are doing decision making. On items for us today. First up.

Next up, we have HCR 31 HR 31, recognizing 2026 as International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in Hawaii. We like this resolution, and we had good testimony, and we are going to be moving this forward as is. Members, are there any questions? Concerns? Seeing none, Vice Chair for the vote. I'm sorry. Chair for the vote.

Okay. So, okay, members. We're gonna take this in tandem. So we are voting on HCR 31 HR 31. Recommendation is to pass unamended. Chair and Vice Chair vote aye. [Roll call]. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, chair. Next, we're gonna be voting on HCR 94 HD1 and HR 86 HD1. With this measure as well, we are gonna be moving forward as is. Committee members, is there a quest any nays? Any questions?

I'm sorry. Any questions or concerns? Vice chair for the vote.

Alright. Members voting on HCR 94 and HR 86. Recommendation Oh, HCR 94 HD one and HR 86 HD one. Recommendation is to pass unamended, including an excused absence of representatives Quinlan and. Are there any observations?

Any noes? Seeing none, chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, chair. Next up, we have HCR 24 and HR 23. We had good input on this, and we are gonna take, some of the recommendations and testimony, and that is to add on page four, lines four through nine, the Department of Business, Economic, and Tourism submit, proposed policy recommendations twenty days prior to the 2027 legislature. And then we also have some technical amendments needed to clarify for clarity, consistency, and style. Members, are there any questions or concerns?

Seeing none, chair for the vote.

Right members, we are voting on HCR 24 and HR 23. Recommendation is to pass with amendments. Billing excused absence of Doctor. Quinlan. Any reservations?

Any nos? Seeing none, chair your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you, chair. Members, we are adjourned. Good morning. This is the committee on joint committee on agriculture and food systems and energy and environmental protection in Conference Room 325 here at the state capital scheduled for today, April 8 at 10:15AM. Thank you everyone for being here in person and on Zoom.

My name is Matthias Kush. I am vice chair of the agriculture and food systems committee. Here's some ground rules before we move on. Because morning hearings must be adjourned before 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.

In order to allow as many people to testify as possible, there will be a two minute time limit per testifier. For those on Zoom, please keep yourself muted until it and your video off while waiting to testify and after your testimony is complete. The Zoom chat function will allow you to chat with technical staff only. Please use the chat function for technical issues. If you are disconnected unexpectedly, you may attempt to rejoin the meeting.

If 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 of a network failure, it may be necessary to reschedule a hearing or schedule a meeting for decision making. In that case, an appropriate notice will be posted. Please avoid using any trademark or copyrighted images if you are using a Zoom background.

Please refrain refrain from any profanity or uncivil behavior. Such behavior may be grounds for removal from the hearing without the ability to rejoin. Finally, we have a new microphone system in the house conference rooms. Microphones are in the ceiling, so please be aware that any side conversations may be picked up.