Bill Text: HI HB1205 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Bill 1205 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Hawaii-grown Food Procurement Task Force; Procurement; Appropriation ($)

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-02-02 - Referred to AGR, FIN, referral sheet 6 [HB1205 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2015-HB1205-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1205
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to procurement.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The State has a vested interest in increasing the amount of local food grown and consumed in Hawaii. One avenue is for the State to find opportunities to purchase more local food through its procurement policies. These policies will help to increase food self-sufficiency and make Hawaii more economically secure. For local farmers, this avenue can provide an additional market avenue to sell more products, thereby providing the local agricultural sector with more revenue and jobs. Furthermore, increasing the consumption of locally grown foods will ensure that fresh, high quality produce is available for healthy meals in schools, hospitals, and correctional facilities throughout the State. Our children will be able to eat the highest quality food that will nourish their bodies, enhance their educational experience, cultivate long-term healthy habits, and reconnect them with the origins of their food.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a task force to create recommendations for increasing procurement of food grown in Hawaii by state departments and agencies.

SECTION 2. (a) There shall be established within the state procurement office, for administrative purposes only, a Hawaii-grown food procurement task force.

(b) The task force shall:

(1) Research and identify challenges of increasing procurement of local foods from industry experts such as regulators, farmers, distributors, cafeteria managers, health officials, or any other expert as deemed necessary by the task force;

(2) Develop recommendations for statewide policies and implement procedures for increasing local food procurement in schools;

(3) Develop recommendations for statewide policies and implement procedures for increasing local food procurement in hospitals;

(4) Develop recommendations for statewide policies and implement procedures for increasing local food procurement in prisons;

(5) Develop recommendations for statewide policies and implement procedures for increasing local food procurement in any state department or agency deemed feasible by the task force; and

(6) Recommend a framework for collecting data to track procurement contracts such that the results from the task force can be measured over time. This shall include working with all the State's procurement officers to standardize the tracking of awards made and the rationale for the award in order to measure and quantify outcomes.

(c) The task force shall adopt rules and procedures as needed. Task force membership shall consist of at least one representative from each of the following:

(1) The state procurement office;

(2) The department of agriculture procurement office;

(3) The department of education procurement and contracts branch;

(4) The department of education food services branch;

(5) The department of public safety procurement branch;

(6) The department of human services procurement branch;

(7) Any other interested departmental procurement branch;

(8) Stakeholders from the farm-to-school movement;

(9) The United States Department of Agriculture;

(10) Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation;

(11) Hawaii Farmer's Union;

(12) The Hawaii State Teachers Association;

(13) Local food distributors, including those from counties with a population of less than five hundred thousand;

(14) Ulupono Initiative; and

(15) The office of information management and technology.

The representative from the state procurement office shall serve as the task force chairperson.

(d) The task force shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2016.

(e) The task force shall be dissolved on June 30, 2016.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2015-2016 to fund the Hawaii-grown food procurement task for the purpose of creating recommendations for increasing procurement of food grown in Hawaii by State departments and agencies.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the state procurement office for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2015.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Hawaii-grown Food Procurement Task Force; Procurement; Appropriation

Description:

Establishes and appropriates funds for the Hawaii-grown food procurement task force for the purpose of creating recommendations for increasing procurement of food grown in Hawaii by State departments and agencies.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.