Representative Jon Riki Karamatsu
Written Remarks
Senate Bill 2646, Senate Draft 2, House Draft 2
Relating to Important Agriculture Lands
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
I rise in support.
The purpose of this bill is to provide a comprehensive set of incentives to establish and sustain viable agricultural operations on lands designated as important agricultural lands (IALs). This bill, among other things;
(1) Excludes income from certain agricultural leases on lands designated as IALs from the income tax;
(2) Exempts income from certain agricultural leases on lands designated as IALs from the general excise tax (GET);
(3) Allows landowners who have designated their agricultural lands as IALs to construct residential dwellings for farmers, employees, and their families on the IALs, subject to certain conditions;
(4) Establishes an IAL Qualified Agricultural Cost Tax Credit (IAL Tax Credit) for qualified agricultural costs incurred by taxpayers, up to an unspecified maximum amount per year for each taxpayer;
(5) Authorizes the Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture to guarantee agricultural loans for agricultural projects located on IALs;
(6) Requires the Department of Agriculture (DOA) to include the water needs of IAL agricultural operations when developing the Water Use and Development Plan;
(7) Requires the priority processing of permit applications for agricultural processing facilities submitted by an agribusiness, where the majority of the agribusinesses' lands are designated as IALs; and
(8) Requires:
(A) DOA and Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to collaborate to identify and map public lands that should be designated as IALs;
(B) The Land Use Commission to designate these lands as IALS; and
(C) Management of such lands to be transferred to DOA.
Thank you.
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 