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Votes at a glance: House Agriculture Committee (Feb. 12, 2025) — many bills advanced with technical amendments
Summary
During decision-making the committee advanced multiple bills on irrigation, land acquisitions, biosecurity and other agriculture matters. Committee reports will capture appropriation requests and program details.
The House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems completed decision-making on its Feb. 12, 2025 agenda and advanced multiple measures. The committee often advanced measures with technical amendments and instructed agencies to provide prioritized project lists, appropriation amounts and program details for the committee report. Key outcomes recorded during the session:
HB 48 (coffee labeling) — Passed with amendments (date defected to 07/01/3000; technical amendments). Committee noted Department of Agriculture requested positions in its testimony; details to be included in committee report.
HB 222 HD1 (wage and hour law, range production exemption) — Passed as is.
HB 783 (irrigation) — Passed with amendments; committee directed agencies to provide a prioritized list of irrigation projects and to document funding/staffing requests in the committee report.
HB 685 (ADC Ka‘ū parcel acquisition) — Passed with amendments; attorney general requested the bill identify the owner of the property as required by HRS 136D-31(b); ADC will provide owner name for amendment.
HB 915 HD1 (water use / dual-line systems) — Passed as is; committee asked agencies to clarify roles between state and counties for program implementation.
HB 858 (agricultural statistics) — Passed with amendments; committee instructed corrections to agency names and noted CTAHR capacity-building; amounts and FTEs blanked for committee report.
HB 1497 (restricted-use pesticide reporting) — Passed with amendments; committee noted stakeholder requests for square-mile reporting and consistent units of measure and asked HDOA to consider them during online tool development.
HB 1294 HD1 (agricultural workforce housing working group) — Passed as is.
HB 1427 HD1 (avian influenza funding) — Passed as is; committee asked HDOH and HDOA to provide appropriation details for the committee report.
HB 365 (prohibit octopus aquaculture) — Passed with amendments (technical edits); committee noted testimony that no octopus farms currently operate in Hawaii and clarified the bill would not affect wild-caught sales or research uses.
HB 319 (cruelty to animals / feral chickens, extermination provisions) — Passed with amendments incorporating HDOA recommendations to minimize need for new administrative rules and to adjust statutory language as requested by the Department of Agriculture and Attorney General.
HB 92 HD1 (include agricultural businesses as qualified high-technology businesses) — Passed with amendments; committee to record DOTAX implementation timing recommendations and AG comments in the report; one member recorded a reservation expressing concern about potential support to large agribusinesses that do not produce food for local markets.
HB 299 HD1 (Hawaii Invasive Species Council funding) — Passed as is; committee requested HISC to itemize grant distributions and program requests in the report.
HB 1237 (biosecurity for Maui County and island programs) — Passed with amendments; committee asked for University of Hawai‘i contracting language and clarified position classifications for island positions.
HB 1237 (biosecurity) and HB 775 (agricultural biosecurity positions) — Both passed with amendments; committee asked for reconciliation with previous Act 231 (SLH 2024) funding and for corrected totals and program inclusions to be reflected in the committee report.
HB 1013 (Important Agricultural Lands farm-cluster housing) — Passed as is; Land Use Commission noted an ongoing Supreme Court appeal that could affect IAL rule changes.
HB 1417 (farmer income tax exclusion) — Reported with amendments (technical and AG corrections requested); committee recommended technical changes and further Attorney General and Department of Taxation edits in the committee report.
Each advanced bill will proceed through the legislative process. The committee frequently blanked dollar amounts and FTE counts in bill text and asked agencies to provide the numbers in committee reports so that legislators can weigh program details during budget negotiations.
