Bill Text: HI HB749 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

---

Bill Title: Agriculture; Hawaii Agriculture Workforce Advisory Board

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-18 - Act 099, 6/14/2013 (Gov. Msg. No. 1199). [HB749 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HB749-Amended.html

---

 

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 994

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 749

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 749, H.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote economically competitive activities that increase Hawaii's agricultural self-sufficiency, attractiveness, and workforce opportunities by creating and appropriating funds for the Hawaii Agriculture Workforce Advisory Board within the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, National Future Farmers of America Organization, and two individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Kohala Center.

 

     Your Committees find that a robust agricultural workforce is critical to building a self-sustaining agricultural industry in Hawaii.  Since the average age of farmers in Hawaii is approximately sixty years old, the State must promote and train future leaders in the agricultural sector to ensure that Hawaii will have a thriving agricultural industry in the future.   

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that the President of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, rather than a representative, shall be a member of the Hawaii Agriculture Workforce Advisory Board;

 

     (2)  Specifying that section 26-34, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall apply to the selection of members of the advisory board as appropriate;

 

     (3)  Replacing the abbreviation "FFA" with "Future Farmers of America"; and

 

     (4)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 749, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 749, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Judiciary and Labor,

 

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair		____________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair