STAND. COM. REP. NO.  491

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

 

RE:   H.B. No. 396

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Economic Development & Business Concerns, to which was referred H.B. No. 396 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PROCUREMENT CODE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to encourage the purchase and use of Hawaii agricultural products by, among other things, requiring:

 

     (1)  Procurement contracts for food operations of state correctional facilities and state hospitals and healthcare facilities to be awarded to the lowest responsible and responsive bidders, with preference given to the agricultural products raised or grown in Hawaii; and

 

     (2)  The State Procurement Office, with assistance from the Department of Agriculture (DOA), to develop a Hawaii Agricultural Product Program that requires state purchasing agents of food operations at state correctional facilities and state hospitals and healthcare facilities to, among other things, set goals to increase in increments the purchase of Hawaii agricultural products from ten percent per year to a maximum of fifty percent per year.

 

     The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, Maui County Farm Bureau, and the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center supported this bill.  DOA, State Procurement Office, and a concerned individual supported the intent of this measure.  The Department of Accounting and General Services submitted comments.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Increasing the scope of the preference contained in this bill by including food operations of public schools; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Economic Development & Business Concerns that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 396, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 396, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Economic Development & Business Concerns,

 

 

____________________________

KYLE T. YAMASHITA, Chair

 

____________________________

CLIFT TSUJI, Chair