STAND. COM. REP. NO.  657

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

 

RE:   H.B. No. 232

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 232 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO QUALIFYING MEDICAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to encourage the use of medical information technology by physicians to increase the efficiency of the delivery services and lower administrative costs by providing, in the form of an income tax credit, a limited rebate of the general excise tax on physician services to those physicians who invest in this technology.

 

     The Department of Taxation opposed this bill.

 

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that this is a nonrefundable tax credit;

 

     (2)  Allowing the credit to be carried forward against future tax liability until exhausted;

 

     (3)  Clarifying that the credit is allowed for the general excise tax imposed on expenditures up to $20,000; and

 

     (4)  Applying the credit to qualifying costs incurred on or after January 1, 2008.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 232, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 232, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

JOSHUA B. GREEN, M.D., Chair