Bill Text: HI HR113 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Resolution 113 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: School Gardens; Task Force

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-16 - (H) Referred to HLT/AGR, EDN, FIN, referral sheet 39 [HR113 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2011-HR113-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	113
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

requesting the convening of a Task Force to determine how to expand School Gardens programs statewide.

WHEREAS, according to the National Survey of Children's Health, twenty-eight percent of school-aged children in Hawaii are either overweight or obese, and one in every three children born in the United States in 2000 will develop diabetes; and

WHEREAS, the 2003 Food Security Task Force report published by the State Office of Planning also noted that over nineteen percent of Hawaii residents live in food insecure households, and most of those households contain school-aged children; and

WHEREAS, many children in Hawaii have limited exposure to the wide range of healthy, local foods that are available and frequently have no idea where food comes from or how it is prepared, leaving them susceptible to the ubiquitous marketing and easy availability of "junk" food; and

WHEREAS, the addition of locally-produced fruits and vegetables in school meals would bring high quality, local produce to Hawaii's school children; and

WHEREAS, farm to school programs, such as planting and tending school gardens, have proven successful in supplying high quality food, as well as providing students with knowledge that enhances their educational experience and cultivates long-term healthy habits; and

WHEREAS, several successful alternative farm to school programs exist in Hawaii through public-private partnerships and strong support from local school administrators, food service managers, teachers, parents, and students; and

WHEREAS, these programs also rely upon external support from non-profit organizations, such as Kokua Hawai�i Foundation's �AINA In Schools (Actively Integrating Nutrition and Agriculture in Schools), MA�O Organic Farms, The Kohala Center through its Hawai�i School Garden Hui, and the Ulupono Initiative; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, that the Department of Health's Healthy Hawaii Initiative is requested to convene a School Gardens Task Force to determine how best to expand school gardens programs statewide; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Force participants include representatives from the:

(1) Department of Health's Healthy Hawaii Initiative;

(2) Department of Agriculture;

(3) Department of Education Office of Hawaii Child Nutrition Programs;

(4) University of Hawai�i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources;

(5) University of Hawaii community colleges culinary arts programs;

(6) Kokua Hawai�i Foundation;

(7) The Kohala Center Hawai�i Island School Garden Network;

(8) Ulupono Initiative;

(9) MA�O Organic Farms; and

(10) Hawaii Association of Independent Schools; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Force report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the Regular Session of 2012 on its findings and recommendations, including any recommendations for legislation and funding; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, Superintendent of Education, Dean of the University of Hawai�i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Vice President for Community Colleges of the University of Hawai�i System, Kokua Hawai�i Foundation, The Kohala Center, Ulupono Initiative, MA�O Organic Farms, and Hawaii Association of Independent Schools.