STAND. COM. REP. 2100

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2220

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 2220 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TAXES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to increase allocations from conveyance tax proceeds to the rental housing trust fund and the natural area reserve fund.

The Hawaii Audubon Society; The Nature Conservancy; KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance; Conservation Council for Hawai`i; Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species; and Catholic Charities Hawai`i submitted testimony in support of the measure. The Director of Taxation, Director of Budget and Finance, and Hawaii Association of Realtors submitted testimony in opposition to the measure. The Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, and Tax Foundation of Hawaii submitted comments on the measure.

Your Committee heard the concerns of the Director of Taxation regarding the diversion of all revenues from conveyance taxes from the general fund to the rental housing trust fund and the natural area reserve fund, and agreed that a portion of the revenues should continue to be paid into the general fund.

Your Committee amended the measure by changing the percentage of conveyance tax revenues to be paid into the rental housing trust fund and the natural area reserve fund from fifty to thirty-five per cent for each fund.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2220, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2220, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture,

____________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair