A bill that would end mandatory inspection of green coffee beans being shipped from Hawaii cleared its last hurdle before the state House of Representatives last week and goes before a Senate committee today. A bill that would end mandatory
A bill that would end mandatory inspection of green coffee beans being shipped from Hawaii cleared its last hurdle before the state House of Representatives last week and goes before a Senate committee today.
House Bill 280 passed from the House March 6, with just two representatives — Denny Coffman, D-Kailua-Kona, Honokohau, Keauhou, and Faye Hanohano, D-Puna — voting no. The Senate Agriculture committee is to consider the bill this afternoon.
Attempts to reach Coffman and Hanohano, as well as Sen. Gilbert Kahele, D-Ka‘u, Puna, who is the vice chairman of the Senate’s agriculture committee, Monday were unsuccessful.
Kona coffee farmer David Case said he spoke with Coffman about the measure, and his concerns. Case noted the mandatory inspection requirements were put in place after the Kona Kai coffee scandal in the 1990s. In that case, a company purchase green coffee beans from other countries and sold the coffee as Kona coffee.
“People are fooling themselves” if they think a voluntary certification system will protect Kona coffee, Case said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
He said it was unclear how removing the rules for mandatory certification would make it possible for the Department of Agriculture to enforce inspections and certifications, because HB 280 repealed the department’s enforcement authority.
Case also claimed representatives were misled about support for the bill. Someone told Case state representatives were told only four people testified against the bill. Case reviewed the testimony, as did Coffman, and found the submittals were about evenly for and against the measure, with an equal measure of testifiers asking for amendments to the bill before it is adopted.
“It didn’t seem to be as lopsided as it had been (portrayed),” Case said.
Proponents noted Department of Agriculture budget cuts, which have left coffee growers waiting four to six weeks for a state inspector to grade and certify the coffee.
Opponents called on arguments similar to ones used when calling for more stringent labeling requirements for Kona coffee in general, protecting the product’s name and farmers’ ability to charge a premium price for the product.
“We have lost almost any value in the name Kona Coffee because of the lack of support from the state to protect our name,” Randy Phillips of Kona View Coffee in Holualoa wrote in February. “Please try to sell sparkling wine from California with the name ‘Champagne’ and see where it gets you (in a lawsuit). … Please do not abandon one of the few protections the state has deemed appropriate (to) help Kona Coffee growers.”
