SB 496 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.

Summary

Requires the Board of Agriculture to define the terms "bona fide farmer" and "bona fide agricultural activity". Requires a report to the Legislature. (SD1)

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Last action Feb 10, 2025

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What changed between versions

SB496 → SB496_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill adds new procedural requirements for the Board of Agriculture when defining 'bona fide farmer' and 'bona fide agricultural activity'. The most significant change is the addition of a stakeholder input requirement, mandating that the board actively solicit and incorporate feedback from interested parties before finalizing definitions. A minor correction was made to clarify that the 'department' of agriculture submits the report, though this likely refers to the same entity as the board.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on establishing definitions for agricultural terms, but the process for creating those definitions has been expanded to include public engagement.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement for the Board of Agriculture to solicit and incorporate stakeholder input when drafting definitions.

Corrected the agency name from 'department' to 'board' in the section requiring the submission of drafted definitions to the legislature.

TECHNICAL

Changed the bill reference from 'S.B. NO. rit' to 'S.B. NO. 496' and updated the session year format.

Added metadata headers and formatting elements typical of a Senate Draft 1 version, including bill numbers and timestamps.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 10, 2025

Committee

Reported from AEN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 176) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Feb 3, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on AEN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in AEN were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Gabbard, Richards, Rhoads, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) DeCoite.

upper

Jan 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on AEN has scheduled a public hearing on 01-27-25 1:00PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to AEN, WAM.

upper

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Introduced.

upper

8 primary · 2 co-sponsors