HB 314 Summary

• Appropriates funds to the Office of Community Services for fiscal years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 to purchase, store, and transport food for distribution through three designated food banks: Hawaii Foodbank, Inc., Maui Food Bank, Inc., and The Food Basket, Inc.

• Allocates funds to the food banks serving Honolulu and Kauai counties, Maui County, and Hawaii County respectively, using a distribution formula modeled after the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program's state allocation formula.

• Limits administrative costs to no more than 15 percent of appropriated funds, with remaining amounts dedicated to food purchasing and distribution.

• Addresses Hawaii's food insecurity crisis, with one in six residents and nearly one in four children facing food insecurity, and projected second-highest rate of child food insecurity in the nation.

• Takes effect July 1, 2023, with funds expended by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations' Office of Community Services.