STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2835

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3078

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 3078, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to assist the Agribusiness Development Corporation to create the Hawaii agribusiness plan.

Specifically, this bill directs the Legislative Reference Bureau to conduct a study to identify elements that should be included in the Hawaii agribusiness plan and to:

(1) Identify the government agencies, public and private organizations, and individuals that are stakeholders that directly benefit from the agribusiness development corporation;

(2) Convene a working group of the stakeholders in the agricultural industry, which shall include but not be limited to individuals from the department of agriculture, the Agribusiness Development Corporation, the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, and county farm bureaus, as well as individual farmers and ranchers;

(3) Organize working group meetings and facilitate discussions and suggestions to improve the Agribusiness Development Corporation, identify the necessary elements for developing the Hawaii agribusiness plan, and evaluate the transfers proposed in the original S.B. No. 3078;

(4) Produce a report of its findings and recommendations, as well as the working group's findings and recommendations; and

(5) Submit its report to the legislature at least twenty days before the convening of the 2007 regular session.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this bill to enable the Legislative Reference Bureau to provide a research product that is useful to the Legislature in a more expedient manner by removing:

(1) The concept of having the Bureau convene a working group; and

(2) The requirement for the Bureau to evaluate the specific transfer of responsibilities between agencies as proposed in the original draft of this bill.

Your Committee has also made technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3078, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3078, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair