Bill Text: HI SB341 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Taro.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-03-11 - Referred to AGR, FIN, referral sheet 22 [SB341 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2021-SB341-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
341 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to taro.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawaii imports eighty-five
per cent of its food and is considered highly vulnerable in issues of food security as a State. Climate change significantly increases this vulnerability
with sea level rise and intensified weather patterns in the Pacific, such as droughts,
hurricanes, and floods. In 2016, the governor
pledged to double food production in Hawaii by
2030 at the International Union of Conservation of Nature World Conservation
Congress, as part of Hawaii's commitments to
the world and the State and in order
to begin to address this import inequity.
The legislature further finds that
small farms on ten acres or less in Hawaii produce a significant portion of locally-grown and locally-consumed food on
each island. The small farm sector of agriculture is growing yet the 2017 census of
agriculture reports the average small-scale
farmer in Hawaii makes less than $40,000 per
year, with losses of almost $10,000 annually due to the high costs of farming, including land and water. To
accomplish the State's 2030 goal for
local food production, there is an urgent need
to better support small farmers including through small economic incentives to build
a larger market.
The legislature additionally finds
that the department of agriculture has
identified staple starches as the greatest
food security risk in the State. Taro is
a hypoallergenic complex carbohydrate that
plays a critical role in the health of the family, particularly Native Hawaiians.
Yet, the cost of poi remains inaccessible to families most in need of this
important staple starch food. Taro is one of Hawaii's highest yielding staple
starch food crops, producing ten
thousand and twenty thousand pounds per
acre per annum under wet and dry cultivation,
respectively; however, taro is severely underproduced in the State.
The 2017
census of agriculture reported two hundred seven farms and four hundred ninety-five acres of taro
in wetland and dryland production. An estimated two hundred to three hundred additional acres are unreported or
in subsistence taro cultivation. Annual reported production averages four million tons; however, taro imports are
estimated to soon exceed local production.
The legislature also finds that loi
kalo, or wetland taro systems, are additionally recognized for their potential to mitigate other
impacts of climate change by functioning
as riparian buffers and sediment retention basins. Underground foods, such as taro, can often
survive hurricane or flood events
and be harvested to address immediate food
shortages where the capacity to store and cook food can be retained.
The legislature further finds that
the report of the Taro Security and
Purity Task Force to the 2010 legislature recommended a number of supports to make taro farming affordable, including access to land, water, mentoring,
and economic incentives. The counties of
Maui and Kauai have enacted ordinances that exempt kuleana lands in active taro production from county
taxes. These ordinances provide
limited relief to some taro farms but are not available in all counties and are
insufficient for young farmers to
offset typically low incomes experienced by taro
growers or mitigate the effects of competition from imports.
The legislature
additionally finds that, in 1901, the first legislature of the Territory of Hawaii recognized the role that taro
played in feeding the nation by
passing Senate Bill No. 87 to encourage the cultivation of taro by exempting taro and the cultivation of taro from all state taxes. While Senate Bill
No. 87 was never signed into law, its
intentions were clear in encouraging the production of more taro.
The legislature
also finds that, in recognition of the critical importance of protecting and perpetuating the traditional
practice of taro farming as part of
Hawaii's cultural identity and its role in local food security, there is a compelling interest in enacting a law in present day that is similar to Senate
Bill No. 87 that was passed by the first legislature of the Territory of Hawaii.
Additionally, an acreage and income cap
is a more effective threshold than a
timeframe for a proposed tax exemption
where one of the goals is to increase overall
local taro production.
The
purpose of this Act is to create stronger economic
incentives for new taro farmers, improve the livelihoods of existing taro farmers, and reduce the cost of poi for local families by exempting taro production
from state income taxes.
SECTION 2. Chapter 235, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"235- Taro cultivation
and production; exemption. Except as provided in sections 235-61 to 235-67
relating to withholding and collection of tax at source, and section 235-2.4 relating
to "unrelated business taxable income", persons engaged in the business
of taro cultivation and production of value‑added taro products shall not
be taxable under this chapter.
As it relates to persons engaged in the business
of taro cultivation and production of value-added taro products, the following shall
not be taxable under this chapter:
(1) Taro plants; taro
corm; leaf; and huli for taro farms or portions of farms dedicated to taro plants,
taro corm, leaf, and huli;
(2) Taro lands planted
with taro, including fallow rotation lands specifically for taro production of less
than or equal acreage to lands in active taro production by each individual grower;
and
(3) Preparations of
taro, poi, and value-added products produced with taro exclusively sourced from
taro grown in the State;
provided that up to the first $100,000 of gross income per individual, farm, poi mill, or business shall not be taxable under this chapter; provided further that this exclusion shall not apply if at any time during the year the total amount of land for locally grown taro in the State surpasses thirty thousand acres, as determined by the department of agriculture."
SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act, upon its approval, shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Taro; Income Tax; Exemption
Description:
Establishes an exemption from state income tax for the first $100,000 of income derived from taro, taro products, and land used to produce taro if the total amount of land used to cultivate taro in Hawaii does not exceed thirty thousand acres at any point in the year.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
