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House committee backs broad irrigation funding, asks agencies to prioritize projects
Summary
The House Agriculture Committee voted to advance HB 783, directing the legislature to document irrigation project requests from the Agribusiness Development Corporation and the Department of Agriculture and consider moving irrigation staffing from revolving funds to the general fund.
The House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems voted Thursday to advance HB 783 after testimony from state and industry officials that Hawaii’s aging irrigation infrastructure is constraining agricultural production.
Committee members instructed staff to list specific irrigation projects and agency requests in the committee report and to continue discussions about a potential transfer of irrigation staff funding from revolving funds to the general fund.
The bill authorizes the director of finance to issue general obligation bonds to finance capital improvement projects for irrigation systems. Testimony at the hearing emphasized that irrigation supports food production, jobs and emergency uses such as firefighting.
Wendy Gady of the Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) urged the committee to include ADC-operated systems in the bill’s funding list and noted irrigation’s role in public safety and nutrition. “Every one of these systems, the water has been pulled by the Kauai fire department or the Honolulu fire department to mitigate fires,” Gady said.
Brian Miyamoto of the Hawaii Farm Bureau and other agriculture stakeholders described aging infrastructure and higher operating costs. Miyamoto urged lawmakers to fund all listed irrigation projects and recommended that the legislature consider transferring nine Department of Education irrigation positions out of the irrigation revolving fund and into the general fund to avoid putting operating costs on water users. The Farm Bureau calculated those nine positions at $422,604 annually and said shifting them could reduce pressure to increase user fees.
Department of Agriculture staff described the operational strain created by long unchanged delivery fees, noting the last rate increase for some systems dated to February 2006. The department said moving positions to the general fund could cut operating costs substantially and reduce the need to raise water delivery fees charged to users.
Committee Chair Kirsten Kahaloha said the panel would not list appropriation totals in the bill text but would include each ADC and Department of Agriculture request and project in the committee report, and asked agencies to prioritize needs for future budget talks.
The committee then voted to advance HB 783 with technical amendments and instructions to line-item the projects and document agency requests in the committee report.
Looking ahead, lawmakers will review the prioritized list to determine which irrigation projects and staffing changes to fund in the coming budget cycle.
