STAND. COM. REP. NO. 814

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1060

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1060, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL LOANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to assist the livestock industry by establishing a low-interest agricultural loan program to help in the installation of biosecurity measures.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that the livestock industry is both economically and culturally significant to Hawaii.  Your Committee also finds that livestock operations are susceptible to the introduction of pests and diseases that can affect the health and welfare of the animals and, in some cases, may affect the health and well-being of people who come in contact with the animals or farm products.  Your Committee further finds that biosecurity measures protect the health of poultry and livestock, by reducing the introduction of diseases, pests, and pathogens into farm operations, and are increasingly being required by federal programs to ensure a safe food supply.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Amending the quoted text of section 155-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to accurately reflect the contents of that section; and

     (2)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of consistency, clarity, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1060, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1060, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair