STAND. COM. REP. NO. 556

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1719

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1719 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE LOANS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to increase the monetary limit of loans that the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture can approve from $25,000 to $50,000.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Hawaii Aquaculture Association, and the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center.

 

     Your Committee finds that increasing the monetary limit of the loans that the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture can approve from $25,000 to $50,000 will help farmers acquire the resources they need to maintain and expand their operations.  Your Committee notes that the current approval limit of $25,000 has not been increased since the authority was granted in 1982, and the agriculture, aquaculture, and bank industries have undergone tremendous changes since that time. 

 

     The intent of this measure is to provide greater authority over the amount of loans that may be approved by the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture to take into account the rise in operating costs that farmers face.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1719 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, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs,

 

 

 

____________________________

RUSSELL S. KOKUBUN, Chair