STAND. COM. REP. NO 442

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 376

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 376 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to create a farm to school program in the Department of Agriculture and to provide funding for two farm to school coordinator positions to oversee the State's farm to school program.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, University of Hawaii PALS Program, University of Hawaii System, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Local Food Coalition, Hawaii Farm to School and School Garden Hui, Kokua Hawaii Foundation, Kua o ka La Charter School, Hawaii Island School Garden Network, and thirty-six individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture and Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

 

     Your Committees find that Oregon, a national leader in the farm to school movement, has full-time farm to school coordinators in Oregon's department of agriculture and department of education that work together to increase educational opportunities and the procurement of locally grown foods for schools and encourage the students' consumption of locally grown foods.  Your Committees further find that farm to school activities support a nutritious school food environment and that more than eighty-five percent of the youth in Hawaii attend public schools.  Students who participate in farm to school activities are more likely to be familiar with, have a preference for, and consume more fruits and vegetables at school and at home, thereby establishing healthy behaviors at an early age that may prevent the onset of chronic diseases and other health conditions later in life.  Therefore, your Committees believe that Hawaii students could greatly benefit from a program similar to Oregon's program.

 

     Your Committees also find that Act 55, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, encourages the purchase and use of Hawaii grown food and food products by residents, businesses, and governmental bodies.  Your Committees support increasing the procurement of local agricultural products for schools, which has the added benefit of supporting the State's agricultural economy by providing an additional revenue source for local farmers.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 376, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 376, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Education,

 

____________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair

 

____________________________

RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair