Bill Text: HI HCR102 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: DOA; Hamakua District Irrigation System; Differentiated Rates

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-04-15 - Referred to AGL/WTL/WAM. [HCR102 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HCR102-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	102
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the Department of Agriculture to implement differentiated water toll rates and charges for the Hamakua District irrigation system.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the State has recognized the importance of a self-sufficient and sustainable economy; and

 

     WHEREAS, approximately ninety per cent of all food consumed in Hawaii is imported into the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, the welfare of Hawaii's people would be enhanced by developing agricultural production and processing as fully as possible, including the growing and processing of agricultural crops, the production of livestock and poultry, aquaculture and aquaponics, and the production and processing of other agricultural products; and

 

     WHEREAS, expanding Hawaii's agricultural sector, with the resulting local purchases of Hawaii-grown and -processed agricultural products, would significantly benefit the State's economy, revitalize Hawaii's agricultural sector, and contribute to job creation and career opportunities for farmers, producers of agricultural products, ranchers, and others engaged in ancillary agricultural businesses; and

 

     WHEREAS, each island of Hawaii has substantial natural water resources that are not currently being effectively used and conserved for agricultural purposes, but that can, on a sustainable basis, be used in greater quantities to expand and enhance the State's agricultural sector and production; and

 

     WHEREAS, the high cost of water delivery is causing hardships to farmers growing, and desiring to grow, agricultural crops and poultry, ranchers engaged in the production of livestock, and others desiring to develop aquaculture and aquaponics, thereby making it difficult to continue, or undertake, a sustainable agricultural business and therefore adversely affecting Hawaii's agricultural productivity; and

 

     WHEREAS, the irrigation systems that currently exist provide water in different areas on the islands of Hawaii, and the costs of operating and maintaining these systems differ depending upon the location of these irrigation systems; and

 

     WHEREAS, the water toll rates and charges for the delivery of water to agricultural users in these irrigation systems have been at a uniform rate on a state-wide basis, which imposes hardships on farmers, ranchers, and others engaged in the growing of agricultural crops, including aquaculture and aquaponics, and the production of livestock and poultry located in these different irrigation systems located on different islands of the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, the existing water toll rates and charges do not take into account the levels and amounts that are appropriate for these different irrigation systems in these different locations in order to promote the increased agricultural and livestock and poultry production in these different areas, and do not take into account the different classes of users who often use different amounts of water for agricultural production; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Board of Agriculture, under chapters 141, 167, and 168, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is authorized to develop irrigation systems and to set water toll rates and charges; and

 

     WHEREAS, as an initial step toward establishing the system of differentiated water toll rates for different irrigation systems and for different classes of users, the implementation of such a differentiated system for the Hamakua District irrigation system would provide opportunities to use for agricultural production the District's unused water that currently flows to the sea; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Agriculture is requested to implement differentiated water toll rates and charges for the Hamakua District irrigation system as a first step toward establishing a system of differentiated water toll rates and charges for the different irrigation systems and for different classes of users located throughout the State in order to more fully promote the development and expansion of agricultural activities and processing, including the growing of agricultural crops and the production of livestock and poultry on irrigated lands; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Agriculture is requested to submit a report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2014 on the status and progress of the Department's implementation of differentiated water toll rates and charges for the Hamakua District irrigation system; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, the Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Director of Health, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Education, the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, the Mayor of the County of Maui, the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, the Mayor of the County of Kauai, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, the President of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, and the Commander of the United States Pacific Command.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

DOA; Hamakua District Irrigation System; Differentiated Rates