STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1395

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 62

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 62 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO INCREASE THE FEDERAL BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND AFTERSCHOOL SNACK REIMBURSEMENT RATES FOR HAWAII,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the United States Secretary of Agriculture to increase the federal breakfast, lunch, and afterschool snack reimbursement rates for Hawaii to fifteen percent more than the Alaskan reimbursement rates for breakfast, lunch, and afterschool snack, respectively.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Education, State Public Charter School Commission, and the Ulupono Initiative.

 

     Your Committee finds that all children should receive affordable nutritious meals.  Nutritious meals encourage proper health and allow students to focus on learning in the classroom.  The Child Nutrition Programs of the United States Department of Agriculture provide a subsidy for school meals to students of Hawaii.  Your Committee believes that the cost for meals is higher in Hawaii than in any other state in the United States; specifically, the cost of food prepared at home for a family of four in Hawaii is seventy percent higher than in Alaska.  Your Committee further finds that an increase in the federal reimbursement rates, which is consistent with the higher cost of food in Hawaii, would allow the Child Nutrition Programs to reach more children. 

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 62 and recommends its adoption.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair