STAND. COM. REP. NO 143

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 821

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 821 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize a state income tax credit for certain expenses paid or incurred by school teachers, special education teachers, school librarians, and counselors for supplementary materials used in the classroom.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education and IMUAlliance.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that public school teachers often spend substantial sums of their own income purchasing supplementary supplies and instructional materials for their classrooms.  Whether purchasing art supplies, books, or supplies for students who come to school without any, school teachers make ends meet in their classrooms using their own resources.  Establishing a tax credit for these expenses helps compensate teachers for the expenditures they make for the benefit of their classrooms and students.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the date for which the tax credit applies from taxable years beginning after December 31, 2014, to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 821, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 821, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair