STAND. COM. REP. 3268

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2956

H.D. 1

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2956, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MASS TRANSIT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to promote the establishment of a fixed guideway mass transit system in counties with a population of over five hundred thousand by establishing a funding mechanism for its planning.

The measure accomplishes this by:

(1) Establishing a mass transit planning account as a special account within the general fund;

(2) Requiring that a portion of the tax revenues from the fuel license tax be deposited into the account, not to exceed a total amount of $3,600,000;

(3) Requiring the Director of Finance, by January 1, 2007, to transfer $600,000 from the account to a separate account of the highway fund for each county having a population greater than five hundred thousand;

(4) Requiring that the transferred moneys are to be used by the county to develop and finalize a mass transit work plan, including a fixed guideway mass transit system; and

(5) Requiring, upon specified county approval procedures, the Director of Finance to transfer the remaining $3,000,000 into the separate account of the county's highway fund for the county to prepare an environmental impact statement and a financial plan within two years of the receipt of the moneys by the county.

The measure also provides that if a county fails to accomplish these procedures, then the county must reimburse the State for the amounts transferred.

This measure further requires that of the sixteen cents state sales tax per gallon of liquid fuel and of the fifteen cents state sales tax per gallon of diesel fuel, an unspecified amount is required to be paid into the mass transit planning account, to be used for the same purposes.

Your Committee finds that mass transit is a critical element to the alleviation of traffic congestion and is necessary to the full development of West Oahu. Your Committee is cognizant of past failed attempts to fund a mass transit system and believes that the impetus to get a mass transit system in place has never been stronger than it is right now. However, the opportunity to develop a mass transit system with federal funds is fleeting.

This measure provides an alternative to increasing the excise tax to pay for mass transit. This measure imposes no new taxes, but instead reallocates existing tax revenues derived from fuel license taxes collected from distributors.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2030, to promote further discussion on this issue.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2956, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2956, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair