Legislative Update: Which Good Food and Agriculture Bills Are Still Alive?
Good news!
Many good food and agriculture bills we’ve supported this session made it through all their committees.
The following bills have passed through their assigned committee hearings in both the Senate and House:
SB2992 SD1 HD1: Hawaii Agricultural Investment Program
SB3197 SD2 HD1: Farmer Apprentice Mentioning Program
HB2466 HD2 SD1: Taro Tax Exemption
HB1768 HD2 SD2: Kalo Farming Water Access
HB1517 HD2 SD2: Coffee Labeling
HB1568 HD2 SD2: Local Food Procurement
Many of these bills will still need to make it through conference committee, where the Senate and House resolve any differences. If the bills pass out of conference committee, they go the Governor’s desk.
Unfortunately, there were also several bills we supported that failed to get hearings after crossover to the other chamber.
The following bills have “died” and are no longer active:
SB2629 SD2: Pesticide Disposal Program
SB2974 SD1: Changing Advisory Committee on Pesticides
SB2944 SD1: Protects Agricultural Lands
HB1525 HD1: Local Food Procurement
Even though some of our priority bills didn’t advance, there are some significant bright spots this session in terms of our lawmakers prioritizing greater support for our ag sector.
We thank our lawmakers and everyone who has taken action this legislative session. Robust community engagement in session is important in building momentum towards fixing our broken food system.
Stay tuned for future calls to action! Together, we can fight for a more just and sustainable Hawaiʻi.
