STAND. COM. REP. NO. 464

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 1370
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Energy and Environmental Protection and
Water and Land Use, to which was referred H.B. No. 1370 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CONVEYANCE TAX,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committee, is
to:

     (1)  Increase the conveyance tax from 10 cents to 20 cents
          per $100; and

     (2)  Redistribute conveyance tax revenues so that 10 percent
          would go to homeless shelters and 20 percent would go
          to the Bureau of Conveyances for a two-year period.

     The Institute for Human Services, Inc., and Catholic
Charities supported this bill.  The Office of the Governor, the
Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii (HCDCH),
the Board of Land and Natural Resources, and the Affordable
Housing and Homeless Alliance supported the intent of this bill.

     The Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii and the Hawaii
Association of Realtors opposed the bill.

     The Department of Taxation and the Tax Foundation of Hawaii
submitted comments.


 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 464
                                 Page 2

 
     In recognition that this measure, as received, would
increase the tax burden of Hawaii's residents and that there is a
pressing need to help the State's homeless, your Committees have
amended this bill by:

     (1)  Eliminating the conveyance tax increase;

     (2)  Distributing 50 percent of the conveyance tax revenues
          to the HCDCH for a two-year period;

     (3)  Deleting the percentages earmarked for the Rental
          Housing Trust Fund and the Natural Area Reserve Fund;

     (4)  Clarifying that when this measure drops dead on June
          30, 2001, section 247-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, will
          be reenacted in the form in which it existed on July 1,
          1999; and

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for
          purposes of style and clarity.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Energy and Environmental Protection and Water and
Land Use that are attached to this report, your Committees are in
accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1370, as amended
herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on
Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1370, H.D. 1.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Energy and
                                   Environmental Protection and
                                   Water and Land Use,

                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
______________________________     ______________________________
ROMY M. CACHOLA, Chair             HERMINA M. MORITA, Chair