STAND. COM. REP. 2980

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2849

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 2849, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR ORGANIC AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate moneys to support the establishment of an organic agriculture center and improve food security in Waianae.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the University of Hawaii, Nalo Farms, Primal Cause, Hawai'i Taro Co., Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, and six individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Waianae region of Oahu, as described in the 2002 Food Security Task Force Report, suffers from the worst food security in Hawaii. The report defines household food insecurity as, "whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain."

Leeward Community College and the Waianae Community Re-Development Corporation (WCRC), a Hawaii nonprofit community development corporation, have a collaborative partnership to develop the Waianae Organic Agriculture Center (WOAC), a facility to promote and support the improvement of the Waianae community's food security through the linking of higher education, applied research, and organic food production in the Waianae region.

The partnership has secured funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop WOAC. However, additional funding is needed to support the initial operational costs.

This measure will appropriate funds to provide fifty per cent of the operational needs of WOAC, and the remaining funds needed for the program are being sought by federal programs and private foundations. Your Committee believes that this investment will make a significant positive impact for the Waianae region.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2849, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture,

____________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair