House Bill 198 and 1380

Representative Jessica Wooley crafted the following "School gardens" legislation, House Bill 198:

‘S302A- School gardens. (a) All schools are authorized to grow food in school gardens for consumption in their school meals programs; provided that food products used in
a school meals program shall be inspected and certified as safe by the department of agriculture.

Testimony in favor came from the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii as well as the Kokua Foundation, and the National Heart Association. The main objections came from local farmers who cited the food safety certification process as not being articulated clearly enough in the language. DOE Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi also submitted testimony that the schools would not be allowed to use produce harvested in school gardens as part of the National School Lunch Program unless the Department of Agriculture certified it. Apparently they can, however, eat the lunch as part of a snack or other program so long as it's not part of lunch.
Ultimately this bill was combined with House Bill 1380, Relating to Hawai'i Grown Produce, but there was no authorization. Instead this bill calls for a task force to:
"Examine the feasibility of establishing school gardens, to grow food for consumption as part of each school's lunch program, specifically looking at food safety certification issues;" The task force will submit its findings prior to the 2012 session when it will be taken up again. (It would be great to get Eliza Lathrop on that task force.)
So it looks like liability concerns are slowing this idea down, but progress was made and there is a chance to fight for it another day.