EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICATION OF REAL

PROPERTY TAX TRANSFER

     Section 6.  The amendment to Section 3 of Article VIII shall take effect on the first day of July after two full calendar years have elapsed following the ratification of such amendment [November 7, 1978]; provided that for a period of eleven years following such ratification, the policies and methods of assessing real property taxes shall be uniform throughout the State and shall be established by agreement of a majority of the political subdivisions.  Each political subdivision shall enact such uniform policies and methods of assessment by ordinance before the effective date of this amendment [July 1, 1981], and in the event the political subdivisions fail to enact such ordinances, the uniform policies and methods of assessment shall be established by general law.  Any amendments to the uniform policies and methods of assessment established by the political subdivisions may only be made by agreement of a majority of the political subdivisions and enactment thereof by ordinance in each political subdivision.

     Real property tax exemptions and dedications of land for specific use for assessment at its value in such use as provided by law and in effect upon ratification of the amendment to Section 3 of Article VIII [November 7, 1978] shall be enacted by ordinance and shall not be eliminated or diminished for a period of eleven years following such ratification; provided that increases in such exemptions, or the additions of new and further exemptions or dedications of lands, may be established or granted only by agreement of a majority of the political subdivisions, and such increases or additions shall be enacted by ordinance in each political subdivision. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]

Case Notes

  Any statutory restrictions on the city & county of Honolulu's power to create or repeal real property tax exemptions ceased to have any validity at the end of the eleven-year period specified in this section; thus, Act 227, L 1996, which attempted to extend this period merely through enactment of a state law without amending the Hawaii constitution, was unconstitutional.  99 H. 508, 57 P.3d 433.

  Section 246A-2 has lapsed by its own terms and by the terms of this section.  99 H. 508, 57 P.3d 433.