REPORT TITLE:
Environmental Response Fund

DESCRIPTION:

Increases the tax on petroleum from five to twenty five cents per
barrel.

 
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                                                        2880
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE REVOLVING FUND.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the environmental
 
 2 response revolving fund was originally created to serve as a
 
 3 dedicated source of revenue which the State could utilize to
 
 4 respond to catastrophic hazardous substance spills.  In the past
 
 5 several years, the legislature has expanded the use of this fund
 
 6 to support certain environmental protection programs that address
 
 7 environmental contamination that may have resulted from petroleum
 
 8 or petroleum-based products.
 
 9      In the current austere fiscal climate, it is essential that
 
10 resources be identified to support environmental protection
 
11 efforts.  Since state revenues have been less available for these
 
12 purposes, it is appropriate to assess an increase in the state
 
13 environmental response tax to support certain environmental
 
14 protection programs.
 
15      The legislature finds, therefore, that the state
 
16 environmental response tax assessed in section 243-3.5, Hawaii
 
17 Revised Statutes,  would serve as a useful conduit for this
 
18 purpose.  Although not all environmental concerns are directly
 
19 traceable to petroleum-based products, it is a plentiful
 

 
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 1 commodity found in sufficient degree in enough products that it
 
 2 is reasonable to assess distributors of petroleum products to
 
 3 support the State's effort to protect its environment and natural
 
 4 resources.
 
 5      The purpose of this Act, therefore, is to increase the state
 
 6 environmental response tax levied upon petroleum products and to
 
 7 expand the uses of the environmental response revolving fund to
 
 8 provide financial support to a greater variety of environmental
 
 9 protection programs.
 
10      SECTION 2.  Section 128D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
11 amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
 
12      "(b)  Moneys from the fund shall be expended by the
 
13 department for response actions and preparedness, including
 
14 removal and remedial actions, consistent with this chapter;
 
15 provided that the revenues generated by the "environmental
 
16 response tax" and deposited into the environmental response
 
17 revolving fund:
 
18      (1)  Shall also be used:
 
19           (A)  For oil spill planning, prevention, preparedness,
 
20                education, research, training, removal, and
 
21                remediation; and
 
22           (B)  For direct support for county used oil recycling
 

 
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 1                programs; and
 
 2      (2)  May also be used to support environmental protection
 
 3           and natural resource protection programs, including but
 
 4           not limited to energy conservation and alternative
 
 5           energy development, and to address concerns related to
 
 6           air quality, global warming, clean water, polluted
 
 7           runoff, solid and hazardous waste, drinking water, and
 
 8           underground storage tanks, including support for the
 
 9           underground storage tank program of the department and
 
10           funding for the acquisition by the State of a soil
 
11           remediation site and facility."
 
12      SECTION 3.  Section 243-3.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
13 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
14      "(a)  In addition to any other taxes provided by law,
 
15 subject to the exemptions set forth in section 243-7, there is
 
16 hereby imposed at times provided in section 128D-2 a state
 
17 environmental response tax of [5] 25 cents on each barrel or
 
18 fractional part of a barrel of petroleum product sold by a
 
19 distributor to any retail dealer or end user, other than a
 
20 refiner, of petroleum product; provided that  cents of the tax on
 
21 each barrel shall be used pursuant to section 128D-2 to address
 
22 concerns relating to drinking water.  The tax imposed by this
 

 
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 1 subsection shall be paid by the distributor of the petroleum
 
 2 product."
 
 3      SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 4 New statutory material is underscored.
 
 5      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 6 
 
 7                           INTRODUCED BY: ________________________
 

 
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