STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1145-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 3179

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 3179 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GOVERNMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to make a clarifying amendment to the statutes regarding the definition of "state funds."

For the purpose of receiving testimony, your Committee circulated a proposed draft that:

(1) Exempts deposit beverage container deposits from income taxes;

(2) Adds a new definition for "redemption rate" under the Deposit Beverage Container Program;

(3) Clarifies that the deposit beverage container fee (container fee) does not apply to containers exported for sale outside of Hawaii;

(4) Requires the Department of Health (DOH) to notify distributors in writing of the container fee amount and sets a schedule for recalculation of the fee based on redemption rates;

(5) Specifies that the monthly distributor report must contain the number of beverages in containers manufactured, imported, and exported during the month;

(6) Allows distributors who annually import or manufacture 100,000 or fewer containers to report and make payments on a semi-annual basis;

(7) Authorizes DOH to allow dealers to charge customers the deposit on November 1, 2004, if the containers are labeled with the deposit value, the distributor has paid the deposit, and customers are informed that the containers are not redeemable until January 1, 2005;

(8) Adds container refund value labeling requirements;

(9) Adjusts procedures for notice of changes in the handling fee, and removes specified deadlines for payment of the fee; and

(10) Makes other technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, style, and conformity.

DOH, Department of Environmental Services of the City and County of Honolulu, Life of the Land, and a concerned individual testified in support of the proposed draft. The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, Hawaii Food Industry Association, Anheuser Busch Companies, Pepsi Bottling Group Hawaii, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Hawaii, Tamura's Wahiawa, ABC Stores, and Big Save, Inc., opposed the proposed draft. The Department of Taxation and Longs Drugs, Inc., provided comments.

Your Committee has amended this bill by replacing the contents of the bill as received with the contents of the proposed draft.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3179, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3179, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

 

____________________________

DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair