27-8. Contracts for food; percentage to be grown within the State
(a) The department of education, department of health, department of corrections and rehabilitation, department of defense, and University of Hawaii system shall each ensure that a certain percentage of the food purchased for public schools, youth campuses, public hospitals, public prisons, and any purchases made directly by the University of Hawaii for use in its academic programs, as applicable, is fresh local agricultural products and local value-added, processed, agricultural, or food products, as follows:
(1) By January 1, 2025, fresh local agricultural
products and local value-added, processed, agricultural, or food products shall
constitute a minimum of ten per cent of the total food purchased during each
calendar year, as measured by the per cent of total food cost;
(2) By January 1, 2030, fresh local agricultural
products and local value-added, processed, agricultural, or food products shall
constitute a minimum of eighteen per cent of the total food purchased during
each calendar year, as measured by the per cent of total food cost;
(3) By January 1, 2035, fresh local agricultural
products and local value-added, processed, agricultural, or food products shall
constitute a minimum of twenty-six per cent of the total food purchased during
each calendar year, as measured by the per cent of total food cost;
(4) By January 1, 2040, fresh local agricultural
products and local value-added, processed, agricultural, or food products shall
constitute a minimum of thirty-four per cent of the total food purchased during
each calendar year, as measured by the per cent of total food cost;
(5) By January 1, 2045, fresh local agricultural
products and local value-added, processed, agricultural, or food products shall
constitute a minimum of forty-two per cent of the total food purchased during
each calendar year, as measured by the per cent of total food cost; and
(6) By January 1, 2050, fresh local agricultural
products and local value-added, processed, agricultural, or food products shall
constitute a minimum of fifty per cent of the total food purchased during each
calendar year, as measured by the per cent of total food cost.
(b) The department of education, department of
health, department of corrections and rehabilitation, department of defense,
and University of Hawaii system shall each submit a report to the legislature
no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session on
progress made toward meeting the benchmarks described in subsection (a),
including:
(1) The total cost of food purchased during the
calendar year preceding that regular session, or in the case of the department
of education, during the school year preceding that regular session;
(2) The percentage of the total cost of food
purchased during the calendar year preceding that regular session, accounted
for by the total cost of fresh local agricultural products and local value-added,
processed, agricultural, or food products purchased, or in the case of the
department of education, during the school year preceding that regular session;
and
(3) If the department or University of Hawaii system
did not meet the relevant benchmark described in subsection (a), an explanation
of why the department or University of Hawaii system did not meet that
benchmark.
(c) As used in this section:
"Fresh local agricultural products"
means fruits, vegetables, nuts, coffee, eggs, poultry and poultry products,
livestock and livestock products, milk and milk products, aquacultural and
maricultural products, and horticultural products, that are one hundred per
cent grown, raised, and harvested in Hawaii.
"Local value-added, processed,
agricultural, or food products" means a product for which at least fifty-one
per cent of its primary agricultural product is grown, raised, and harvested in
Hawaii.
"Primary agricultural product" means
the major agricultural product in a processed or value-added agricultural or
food product.
[L 2021, c 176, §2; am L 2022, c 144, §2 and c 278, §55]
