Senate AEN committee advances farm-to-food, loan, data and pesticide-reporting bills; tax-exemption repeal deferred

HONOLULU — The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment on March 10 advanced a package of bills aimed at shoring up Hawaii’s local food supply, agricultural finance and oversight while deferring action on a rarely used tax exemption.

The panel passed measures to create a “farm to families” purchasing and distribution program, fund grant specialist positions to help farmers win federal dollars, modernize agricultural statistics and loan programs, establish a three-year climate-resilient food-systems grant pilot, and build an online restricted-use pesticide (RUP) reporting tool. Committee leaders recommended amendments setting implementation review dates of July 1, 2050, and flagged several appropriation requests for the Legislature’s consideration.

Why it matters: Testimony at the hearing described rising demand for charitable food assistance, uncertainty from reduced federal grant programs and the practical barriers farmers face to participating in state and federal funding opportunities. Proponents told the committee that state support could replace or supplement rescinded federal funds and help keep local produce and protein available to food banks and schools.

Department of Agriculture testimony and advocates framed several bills as timely responses to shrinking federal support. Sharon Hurd of the Department of Agriculture said the department “stands on our written testimony” and highlighted that a federal grant application for $1,100,000 focused on kalo production had been rescinded; she urged the committee to continue appropriations tied to the bills. Amy Miller, executive director of Hawaii Food Bank, told the committee, “We are serving almost twice as many people as we did prior to the pandemic and hitting numbers similar to what we saw during the height of the pandemic.”

Supporters said fresh produce and protein are the highest unmet needs. Miller said the food bank serves about 71,000 people per month through roughly 225 partner agencies and that demand rose about 13 percent in the prior year. Brian Miyamoto of the Hawaii Farm Bureau and representatives of Ulupono Initiative and Hawaii Farmers Union offered support across bills, citing the importance of local purchasing and the need for technical assistance to access federal funds.

Key details from major items discussed:

- Farm to Families (HB 4 28, HD1): Proponents described a program to connect hundreds of local farms with food banks, schools and other distribution outlets. Testimony said federal grant programs for local food had been rescinded for 2025 and asked the Legislature to appropriate funds; the committee report notes $2,000,000 for consideration. Amy Miller and Lisa Paulson (Maui Food Bank) gave concrete examples of families and medical cases helped by fresh produce.

- Grant specialist positions (HB 7 73, HD1): Witnesses urged funding to hire grant-writing specialists to help farmers and food organizations apply for federal funds. Micah Munekata (Ulupono Initiative) cited prior private grants that supported grant-writing capacity: “we funded about $1,400,000 in grant writing over 10 years. That brought in $140,000,000 back into the state.” The committee asked that two full-time positions and $200,000 be considered in the committee report.

- Agricultural statistics (HB 8 58, HD1): The Department said it supports revitalizing the state agricultural statistics program and expects to publish results from a recent survey. The department warned that national reductions in the ag statistics program could delay local releases and said better data are essential to manage programs.

- Ag loan program updates (HB 9 84): The measure reduces interest rates, standardizes and raises loan limits, broadens eligible entities (including food hubs for certain loans), authorizes lines of credit and creates a loan class to encourage larger-scale import-replacement crops. The Department reported it averages about $3–4 million in loans per year across roughly 17–20 operations and that loan terms and interest-rate structure changes could make planning easier.

- Ag climate-resilience grants pilot (HB 14 50, HD2): A three-year pilot would create climate-resilient food-systems grants administered by the Department of Agriculture; proponents said it could replace or supplement federal programs at risk of reduced funding. The committee noted $3,000,000 for consideration in the committee report.

- Restricted-use pesticide reporting tool (HB 14 97, HD1): The measure would fund development of an online reporting tool for restricted-use pesticides and convert temporary environmental health specialist positions to permanent positions; the committee noted requests for two permanent FTEs in its report.

- General excise tax exemptions (HB 11 49, HD1): The Department of Taxation supported an administration proposal to repeal two rarely used general excise tax exemptions (an independent sugarcane-farmer exemption and an exemption for certain contractors of a VA patient-centered community care program). The committee deferred this repeal indefinitely to preserve benefits for the few claimants.

Votes at a glance (committee action and tallies): - HP 12 94 HD2 (Ag workforce housing working group): Passed AEN (chair recommendation passed with amendments). AEN recorded: Chair — aye; Vice Chair — aye; Senator DeCoite — aye; Sarah Rhodes — aye; Sarah Wa — aye. Outcome: adopted. - HB 4 28 HD1 (Farm to Families): Passed. Committee vote: Chair — aye; Vice Chair — aye; Senator DeCoite — aye; Senator Aawa — aye. Outcome: adopted; committee report to note $2,000,000 for consideration. - HB 7 73 HD1 (Grant specialist positions): Passed. Committee vote: Chair — aye; Vice Chair — aye; Senator DeCoite — aye; Senator Aawa — aye. Outcome: adopted; committee report to note two FTE and $200,000 for consideration. - HB 8 58 HD1 (Ag statistics program): Passed. Committee vote: Chair — aye; Vice Chair — aye; Senator DeCoite — aye; Senator Owa — aye. Outcome: adopted; FTE and appropriations to be noted. - HB 9 84 (Ag loan program updates): Passed. Committee vote: Chair — aye; Vice Chair — aye; Senator DeCoite — aye; Senator Aawa — aye. Outcome: adopted; committee indicated intent to consider raising program ceiling if needed. - HB 11 49 HD1 (Repeal of two GET exemptions): Deferred indefinitely. Committee action: defer indefinitely; Department of Taxation had supported repeal but committee sought to preserve benefits for the small number of claimants. - HB 14 50 HD2 (Climate-resilient food systems grant pilot): Passed. Committee vote: Chair — aye; Vice Chair — aye; Senator DeCoite — aye; Senator O’Hara — no; result recorded as adopted with three in favor noted in the minutes; committee report to request $3,000,000 for consideration. - HB 14 97 HD1 (RUP reporting tool and environmental health positions): Passed. Committee vote: Chair — aye; Vice Chair — aye; Senator DeCoite — aye; Senator Aawa — aye. Outcome: adopted; committee report to note two permanent FTE for consideration.

Committee notes and next steps: For several measures the committee adopted amendments that set a review or effective date to July 1, 2050, a common drafting convention to preserve the bill’s language for future consideration. Committee reports will flag several appropriation requests (noted above) for the Legislature’s budget deliberations. Where the Department of Agriculture or other agencies deferred technical answers, committee members asked staff to provide supplemental data to the chair’s office.

The hearing included more than a dozen written and oral proponents, with food banks and farm organizations stressing immediate community need amid reduced federal support. Several senators pressed for detail on implementation, program administration and data on prior grants; the Department of Agriculture agreed to provide requested lists and monitoring data.

— Reporting by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment hearing record; direct quotes and testimony are drawn from the committee transcript.