Support Pesticide Protections & Regenerative Ag Bills
Support Pesticide Protections &
Regenerative Ag Bills
Next week we have several bills to support being heard prior to the first decking deadline, an important date where bills must be heard by their final committee before cross-over. One priority bill supporting increased protections around restricted use pesticides reporting will be heard by the joint committee or CPN and WAM on Tuesday March 3rd at 10:16 a.m. in Conference Room 211 (and virtually). Testimony is due Monday, March 2nd (although late testimony is still accepted). Note that this is a public decision making meeting so only written testimony is accepted.
Several additional bills will also be heard in support of a more equitable and regenerative food future ranging from supporting healthy soil programs to imposing protections with respect to surveillance pricing for Hawaiʻi.
The House Committee on Finance has a hearing regarding the development of a centralized resource on climate change on March 2nd at 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room 308 (and virtually). Testimony is due Sunday, March 1st (although late testimony is still accepted).
A hearing of the Senate Committee on Judiciary will hear a bill related to buffer zones around elderly care facilities on March 3rd at 10:15 a.m. in Conference Room 016 (and virtually). Testimony is due Monday, March 2nd (although late testimony is still accepted).
Two more bills will then be heard by the House Committee on Finance establishing programs related to conservation for climate-resiliency on March 3rd at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room 308 (and virtually). Testimony is due Monday, March 2nd (although late testimony is still accepted).
Finally, the House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs will hear a bill related to surveillance pricing on March 4th at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room 325 (and virtually). Testimony is due Tuesday, March 3rd (although late testimony is still accepted).
If you have not done so already you will need to create an account with the Hawaiʻi State Legislature website to submit testimony.
Support SB 2100 SD1: Improve Pesticide Use Reporting
Testimony Due: 3/2/26
What Does This Bill Do?
Improves data and transparency on pesticide use by requiring quarterly rather than annual reporting of all use of restricted use pesticides. Requires reporting within one square mile of usage to allow for public health risks to be assessed. Requires the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to develop an online reporting tool for restricted use pesticides.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Pesticide exposure can cause significant harm to public health and the environment. Restricted use pesticides have been deemed to have a high potential to cause harm to surrounding communities, farm workers, pollinators, the environment, and other crops.
Comprehensive pesticide use data is essential to accurately assess risks and ensure that communities are protected from adverse impacts. The current reporting system in Hawaiʻi does provide geographically specific enough data to conduct credible public health studies.
In 2020 alone, flaws in reporting led to 203 applications and 162,000 pounds of RUP’s unable to to be traced to a parcel. SB 2100 seeks to address current flaws in reporting by streamlining and improving the system of reporting for applicators, DAB and communities seeking transparency.
Publicly reported data on each RUP is summarized by island. Any resident who might have concerns about what is being used nearby has no way of gleaning more geographically specific information. California currently requires reporting within a square mile, which allows enough specificity for credible studies to be conducted to meaningfully assess risk and health impacts.
The creation of an online portal for RUP users to upload their usage data and for public reporting would require an initial investment, but ultimately would minimize errors in reporting and save considerable time and resources once established while providing the transparency communities have sought for decades.
Mahalo for your consideration!
Your Name, Town
Support HB1774 HD2: Centralized Resource on Climate Change
Testimony Due: 3/1/26
What Does This Bill Do?
Requires and appropriates funds for the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission to develop, implement, and maintain a centralized resource website to connect residents to support and resources to address affordability, health, safety, and the impacts of climate change.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Navigating the resources available as individuals work to mitigate climate change and be prepared for emergencies is challenging for those who work within the food system to those who are unfamiliar with the current efforts to educate the public on steps to offset costs, improve household efficiencies, and identify avenues of financial assistance.
By providing a centralized resource to connect residents to programs, services, discounts, and assistance that address affordability, health, safety, and the impacts of climate change, our communities at-large would be better prepared to prepare themselves for ongoing climate changes from heavy rains and storms to droughts and unforeseen energy expenditures at the home level.
Hawaiʻi’s working families are already pressed for time between managing multiple jobs at times and strapped for financial resources so any assistance in preparing for and being better able to recover when emergencies do occur would be beneficial.
Please support HB 1774 HD2.
Your name, Town
Support SB2713 SD1: Restricted Use Pesticide Buffer Zones Around Elderly Care Facilities
Testimony Due: 3/2/26
What Does This Bill Do?
Prohibits the application of restricted use pesticides within a half-mile radius of elderly health care facilities, with certain exemptions.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Pesticide exposure can cause significant harm to public health and the environment. In addition to affecting communities, farm workers, pollinators, the environment, and other crops around the application of these pesticides, these pesticides can impact our most vulnerable populations – keiki and kupuna.
It is important to protect these most vulnerable populations. As individuals in elderly health care facilities are restricted in options and the ability to move from such locations, ensuring the regulation and safeguard of these spaces is important to maintain our commitment to the health of the care facility residents.
2019 marked the first year RUP data became publicly available. From this data we can see that our communities around Hawaiʻi are being exposed to heavy drift prone pesticides. Imposing a buffer zone around elderly health care facilities is one way to introduce protections to this at-risk population and ensure their health is truly being protected while in these facilities within the buffer zones.
Please support SB 2713 SD1.
Your name, Town
Support HB2548 HD1: Climate-Resilient Grants for Farmers
Testimony Due: 3/2/26
What Does This Bill Do?
Establishes the Climate-Resilient Food Systems Grant Program within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Climate change is upon us, and our food producers are already struggling with the costs of adaptation. Extreme weather events such as rain bombs and drought are already impacting farmers and food producers' livelihoods. One extreme weather event such as the historic flooding of Kauaʻi in 2018 can wipe out an entire harvest, destroy equipment and infrastructure, and ultimately put food producers out of business. Recently, we have faced another series of heavy rainfalls and flooding events which have cost not only our farmers but neighbours resources as flash floods occurred and ruined generators, small machines, and swept away tools and infrastructure.
Margins are already thin for farmers in Hawaii. To prioritize local food security we must support programs such as the proposed climate-resilient grant program to bolster our food producers and as a result, our local food security.
Please support HB 2548 HD1.
Your name, Town
Support HB1953 HD1: Conservation and Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Pilot
Testimony Due: 3/2/26
What Does This Bill Do?
Establishes a two-year Conservation and Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Pilot Program within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Ensuring the health and safety of Hawaiʻi’s environments is crucial to restorative ʻāina work and maintenance of spaces from mauka to makai. As invasive species are introduced, extractive cultivation practices are implemented, and challenges in protecting our public environmental spaces arise, we need to look towards solutions.
Farmers and land stewards could benefit from a regular program which provides the financial backing and technical assistance to better address the litany of challenges they encounter in day-to-day work. Workshops and stipends are an effective mechanism to offer support in exchange for these individuals agreeing to attend and complete training and workshops.
Cost-sharing programs are also an effective strategy as farmers and land stewards work to implement conservation practices proven to improve the environment with such practices including cover cropping, soil amendments, erosion control, nutrient management, composting, and other beneficial practices.
The pilot program will help those entrusted with caring for our ʻāina resources develop plans, participate in training, receive funds, and improve the infrastructure we have to improve conservation practices and safeguard those environmental, social, and cultural spaces we value as a community.
Please support HB 1953 HD1.
Your name, Town
Support HB2458 HD2: Regulations Around Surveillance Pricing
Testimony Due: 3/3/26
What Does This Bill Do?
Prohibits persons from using surveillance pricing in the sale of food. Exemptions certain discounts, loyalty programs, and restaurants.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Hawaiʻi residents have been facing steady and regularly increasing costs of living from rising rental prices in living accommodations to groceries. The ever increasing cost of groceries and basic necessities places a strain on local communities. These costs increase impact not only younger working populations but also our kupuna.
We often hear remarks on the cost of milk compared to prices residents on the continent see but the stark differences in prices do not stop there. In Hawaiʻi, some residents are spending over seventeen percent of their household budget to put a meal on the table. This is significantly higher than the national average of twelve percent.
With one in three households in Hawaii already experiencing difficulty in securing consistent access to food and two-thirds of these families are experiencing the most extreme version of this by reducing food intake, skipping meals, or going whole days without eating, we cannot afford to allow additional financial stress or unpredictability to those trying to budget for meals.
Surveillance pricing introduces an uncertainty which would make budgeting for meals even more difficult. While retailers could use this information to lower prices, prices should be lowered unilaterally to support all members of the community and in the case of loyalty programs, personal identifying information is unnecessary to offer discounts.
Please support HB 2458 HD2 in introducing safeguards to pricing on the sale of food.
Your name, Town
