Report Title:

Cruise Ship Passenger Fees

Description:

Requires cruise ship passenger fees collected by DLNR/DOBOR to be "earmarked" and set aside for use only by the DLNR boating facilities that provided the cruise ship services.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1960

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to FEES.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Although the primary ports-of-call of the domestic and international cruise ships touring Hawaii are the Department of Transportation (DOT) commercial harbors on each island, many cruise ships call at Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) boating facilities (primarily Lahaina, Maui and Kailua-Kona, Hawaii).

Port calls at these DLNR boating facilities are accomplished by employing "anchorage-tendering" procedures wherein passengers are shuttled to and from the cruise ships anchored off shore and the DLNR boating facility via small tendering vessels. One hundred thousand to two hundred thousand visitors are brought to Lahaina and Kailua-Kona this way each year.

Due to the fact that DLNR boating facilities were not designed to accommodate such voluminous activity (2,500 passengers per ship), improvements to the facilities and infrastructure of these facilities are needed for visitor satisfaction, safety and to sustain the significant economic benefits that are generated by these port calls.

The legislature finds that the passenger fees paid by cruise ships for anchorage tendering port calls at DLNR boating facilities should be "earmarked" and set aside for the improvement of only the DLNR boating facility that provided the cruise ship services.

SECTION 2. Chapter 200, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§200– Cruise Ship Passenger Fees. Passenger fees received from both Domestic and International cruise ships for the use of a DLNR boating facility as a port call, shall be identified by the DLNR boating facility which provided the services, and set aside for use by only that boating facility."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2005, and shall apply retroactive to January 1, 2004.

 

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________