Report Title:

Tourism Special Fund; Aloha Aina Patrol

Description:

Provides permanent source of funding for the establishment of an aloha aina patrol in counties with a population in excess of 500,000; redistributes TAT taxes; makes appropriation; effective 7/1/2010. (SD1)

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2061

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

H.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

S.D. 1


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS TAX.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 237D-6.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) Revenues collected under this chapter shall be distributed as follows:

(1) 17.3 per cent of the revenues collected under this chapter shall be deposited into the convention center enterprise special fund established under section 201B-8; [provided that beginning January 1, 2002, if the amount of the revenue collected under this paragraph exceeds $31,000,000 in any calendar year, revenues collected in excess of $31,000,000 shall be deposited into the general fund;]

(2) [32.6] ______ per cent of the revenues collected under this chapter shall be deposited into the tourism special fund established under section 201B-11 for tourism promotion and visitor industry research; provided that beginning on July 1, [2002:] 2004, any county having a population in excess of five hundred thousand shall establish an aloha aina patrol under the jurisdiction of the police department of that county financed in part by the sum of $1,000,000 from the tourism special fund for operational expenses, including staffing from the police service employees and the cadet program, to provide security and assistance to tourists and to serve as ambassadors of aloha in areas of popular beaches and parks that have high tourist traffic, as determined in conjunction with the Hawaii tourism authority, to be in need of additional security to augment normal police services; provided further that the Hawaii tourism authority shall earmark and expend up to $1,000,000 for the express purposes of the program; and provided further that:

(A) If the amount of revenues deposited into the tourism special fund exceeds [$62,292,000] $63,292,000 in any fiscal year, of the first $1,000,000 in revenues deposited in excess of [$62,292,000:] $63,292,000:

(i) Ninety per cent shall be deposited into the state parks special fund established in section 184-3.4; and

(ii) Ten per cent shall be deposited into the special land and development fund established in section 171-19 for the Hawaii statewide trail and access program;

provided that the total amount deposited into the state parks special fund and to the special land and development fund for the Hawaii statewide trail and access program shall not exceed $1,000,000 in any fiscal year;

(3) 44.8 per cent of the revenues collected under this chapter shall be transferred as follows: Kauai county shall receive 14.5 per cent, Hawaii county shall receive 18.6 per cent, city and county of Honolulu shall receive 44.1 per cent, and Maui county shall receive 22.8 per cent; and

(4) [5.3] ______ per cent of the revenues collected under this chapter shall be deposited into the transient accommodations tax trust fund established under section 237D-5.5.

All transient accommodations taxes shall be paid into the state treasury each month within ten days after collection, and shall be kept by the state director of finance in special accounts for distribution in four quarterly allotments on the first days of each January, April, July, and October, as provided in this subsection."

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the tourism special fund the sum of $          , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004-2005, as a subsidy to the city and county of Honolulu for start-up costs and operational expenses, including but not limited to purchase of uniforms and equipment, of the aloha aina patrol program established pursuant to section 52D-   , Hawaii Revised Statutes.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the city and county of Honolulu for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2010.