Hawaii House Agriculture Committee advances farm-to-food, school meal, soil health and finance measures; dozens of bills pass with amendments

The House Committee on Agriculture & Food Systems, chaired by Representative Kirsten Kahaloha, advanced a broad slate of agriculture and food-system bills on Feb. 7, 2025, approving most measures with amendments and sending them forward for further action.

The measures the panel handled aim to expand state support for local food purchases and distribution, strengthen procurement and contract terms to favor Hawaii producers, set up interagency coordination on food systems, create pilot programs and grants for climate resilience and healthy soils, and increase access to capital and transportation support for farmers.

Why this matters: Committee members described the package as an effort to connect hungry households with locally produced food, stabilize markets for local farmers, and direct state resources to make production, aggregation and distribution more viable across the islands. Testimony from food banks, producer organizations and health advocates emphasized immediate food-security needs and long-term benefits to public health and the local agricultural economy.

Key testimony and themes

- Cedric Gates, testifying for the Department of Agriculture, told the committee the department "stands on its strong support for this measure," endorsing the set of bills that would expand programs and coordination for local agriculture and food distribution.

- Amy Miller, president and CEO of the Hawaii Food Bank, described current demand and the programmatic need: "30% of Hawaii households are food insecure. 10% are going without food for whole days, some or most months of the year on a regular basis," and said fresh produce is often the first thing families drop from grocery lists when money is tight. She and other hunger-relief organizations urged state investment in programs that get fresh, local produce to people in need.

- Testimony from food banks and health organizations reported large current caseloads: Hawaii Food Bank said it served about 70,000 people per month on Oahu and Kauai and pushed almost 18 million meals into the community last year; the Maui Food Bank reported serving roughly 45,000 people a month.

- Procurement and contract language drew extended discussion. The committee took testimony from Bonnie Kahakoi of the State Procurement Office and representatives of the Department of Education about a proposed requirement that contracts for local produce purchases above a dollar threshold have minimum five-year terms. Members and witnesses discussed changing "shall" to "may," and the procurement office and DOE recommended raising the dollar threshold from $250 to a higher figure to avoid forcing agencies to manage low-dollar five-year contracts. Committee members and stakeholders agreed on amending the dollar threshold; during discussion $5,000 was proposed as a compromise baseline, with price-adjustment clauses retained for flexibility.

- Multiple bills sought to centralize or better coordinate food systems work: HB 967 would establish a statewide interagency food-systems coordination team and a working group within the Department of Agriculture. Departments and NGOs testified in support and offered to participate.

- Farm-to-school and school-meals policy generated significant public comment. HB 328 HD1 would authorize and enable individual schools or complexes to form farm-to-school meal programs and allow the DOE to establish a plant-based meal program by the 2026–27 school year. Supporters included students and advocates who said plant-based options are currently unavailable for some students.

- Organizational capacity measures also moved forward. HB 773 would appropriate funds for grant specialist positions at the Department of Agriculture to help farmers apply for federal and other grants; proponents said HDOA identified more than $22 million in potential federal awards. HB 776 would create an Agricultural Transportation Assistance Program to help farmers (and food hubs) with interisland and local transport costs; the committee agreed to refine the definition of a geographically disadvantaged farmer, add food hubs as eligible entities and note a reimbursement cap ($8,000) in the committee report.

- Natural-resource and climate-focused measures advanced: HB 968 would establish a Healthy Soils program to coordinate existing compost and cover-crop efforts and provide awards for conservation practices; stakeholders recommended coalescing current programs and careful definition of technical metrics before broader subsidy distribution. HB 1450 would create a three-year agricultural climate-resilience grant pilot administered by the Department of Agriculture.

Votes and committee actions

The committee completed decision-making on the 09:30 a.m. agenda and took votes on each bill. Most bills were passed with amendments, technical fixes, or as drafted. Common committee directions included deferring effective dates to 07/01/3000 for draft housekeeping, blanking appropriations in the bill text and noting requested funding in the committee report, and adopting technical or style amendments recommended by departments. Several specific changes the committee adopted included:

- HB 428 (Farm to Families): Pass with amendments; adopt HDOA recommended reporting clarifications and volume/dollar-category language; defer effective date to 07/01/3000; blank appropriation amounts for the committee report.

- HB 967 (Sustainable Food Systems): Pass with amendments; remove FTEs from the bill text as HDOA requested; adopt HDOA amendments and note interested nonstate participants in the report.

- HB 812 (Local-produce procurement term): Pass with amendments; change "shall" to "may" for statewide mandatory terms at DOE's request, adopt SPO price-adjustment clause while amending the procurement-dollar threshold upward (committee amended the threshold in the bill text from $250 to $25,000 then discussed a $5,000 compromise during testimony; the committee ultimately adopted a higher threshold and retained flexibility language in its amendments), and defer to 07/01/3000.

- HB 110 (Local agricultural product benchmarks): Passed as is with a note to continue work on definitions and guardrails to ensure benchmarks count locally sourced product rather than processing costs.

- HB 328 HD1 (School meals / farm-to-school): Passed as is; committee noted public support for plant-based options and decentralization of procurement to regional levels where feasible.

- HB 497 HD1 (Transfer Hawaii Child Nutrition Programs to Department of Agriculture): Created HD2 with minor technical changes and moved forward; committee noted DOE and HDOA comments and requested further detail where appropriate.

- HB 773 (Grant specialists): Passed with amendments; committee asked that two positions and a proposed appropriation (noted in the committee report as $200,000 total, $100,000 per position) be included for future budget consideration.

- HB 776 (Agricultural Transportation Assistance): Passed with amendments; reimbursement program cap of $8,000 to be noted in the committee report, food hubs added as eligible entities, and the definition of "geographically disadvantaged farmer or livestock producer" to be strengthened and aligned with USDA definitions when practical.

- HB 782 (Review of obsolete ag laws): Passed with amendments; committee added participation for Hawaii Farmers Union and noted a proposed $100,000 appropriation in the report for initial work.

- HB 968 (Healthy Soils program): Passed with amendments; committee deferred appropriation amounts to the report and emphasized that definitions and data collection should precede large-scale incentive distribution.

- HB 984 (Agricultural loans): Passed with amendments to include food hubs and a new class of loans; the committee amended preamble language to emphasize equitable access for small and midsize farms as well as large operations.

- HB 1393 (Agricultural statistics): Passed with amendments; committee will blank funds and FTEs in the bill text and note them in the committee report; committee changed permissive collaboration language to a stronger requirement ("shall collaborate") for defined partners.

- HB 1450 (Agricultural climate resiliency pilot): Passed with amendments; committee will note appropriations in the standing committee report and kept the pilot's three-year scope.

Decision-making on a short-form tax bill (HB 92) also passed. The committee recomitted an HD to allow insertion of substantive provisions for future public hearing; that language would amend the Hawaii income tax code (HRS chapter 235) to clarify eligibility for a research tax credit to include qualified small businesses and agricultural businesses that perform more than 50% of their qualified research activity in Hawaii and that limit qualified research expenses to activities conducted in state.

What the committee did not decide

Most appropriations and FTEs were blanked in bill text and placed for later notation in the committee report; the committee repeatedly deferred dollar amounts to budget negotiations. Several proposals—particularly those requiring technical definitions (soil-carbon baselines, program reporting methods, or a precise metric for "local" product where processing is involved)—were advanced but flagged for further rulemaking, interagency work or subsequent budget detail.

Voices quoted in this story come from the Feb. 7 committee hearing transcript and are attributed to the speakers who made them. All formal votes and committee instructions above are drawn from the committee's decision-making record posted in the hearing transcript.

Ending

The committee concluded its decision-making and adjourned after completing the 09:30 a.m. agenda. Many bills now go to additional committees or to the next House floor steps; the measures that require funding will be revisited in the budget process or reported with requested appropriations in the committee report.

Votes at a glance (selected measures, committee recommendation)

- HB 428 (Farm to Families): Passed with amendments; committee adopted HDOA reporting and volume/dollar clarifications; HD to 07/01/3000; appropriation blanked for report. - HB 967 (Sustainable Food Systems): Passed with amendments; FTEs removed per HDOA recommendation; appropriation blanked for report. - HB 812 (Local-produce contracts): Passed with amendments; procurement language softened from "shall" to "may" for statewide mandates; procurement threshold amended and price-adjustment clause retained; appropriation blanked for report. - HB 110 (Local agricultural product benchmarks): Passed as is; committee noted further work on definitions. - HB 328 HD1 (School meals / farm-to-school): Passed as is. - HB 497 HD1 (Hawaii Child Nutrition Programs transfer): Passed with technical amendments; HD2 created. - HB 773 (Grant specialists): Passed with amendments; committee noted a proposed appropriation of $200,000 in the committee report for two positions. - HB 776 (Ag Transportation Assistance): Passed with amendments; reimbursement cap of $8,000 noted in committee report; food hubs added as eligible entities. - HB 968 (Healthy Soils): Passed with amendments; committee emphasized technical definition work and consolidated program housing. - HB 984 (Agricultural loans): Passed with amendments; added food hubs and Class E loan category and strengthened language ensuring equitable access across farm sizes. - HB 1393 (Ag statistics): Passed with amendments; collaboration language strengthened to "shall collaborate"; appropriations and FTEs blanked for report. - HB 1450 (Ag climate resiliency pilot): Passed with amendments; three-year pilot retained; appropriations blanked for report. - HB 92 (Tax – research credit short form): Passed to recommit with HD for future public hearing (redefines qualified high-technology business for the research credit to include eligible small and agricultural businesses performing research in Hawaii).

(For full roll-call and the committee report language, see the committee's posted decision-making record included in the hearing transcript.)