STAND. COM. REP. NO. 685

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1105

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1105, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Expand the types of rental housing projects that can be exempt from general excise taxes; and

 

     (2)  Allow the terms of collective bargaining agreements and associated provisions to be deemed the prevailing wages and terms serving as the basis of compliance with chapter 104, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for the construction of certain rental housing projects.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Hawaii Construction Alliance, Hawaii Rental Housing Coalition, and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, Hawaii Community Development Authority, and General Contractors Association of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees find that the State is experiencing a critical shortage of affordable housing.  Your Committees further find that private sector construction and development entities have taken steps to improve the economics of building and operating rental housing in Hawaii.  This measure supports private development entities that provide affordable housing units by expanding the types of projects that may be exempt from general excise taxes.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that the amendments to section 104-2(h), Hawaii Revised Statutes, apply to housing projects and not all public works projects;

 

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1105, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1105, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair