STAND. COM. REP. NO.2726
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2002
RE: S.B. No. 2350
S.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2002
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2350, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS TAX,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to set a limit on the transient accommodations tax (TAT) revenues deposited in the tourism special fund.
Specifically, the measure amends the laws governing the tourism special fund by:
(1) Setting a $61,000,000 limit on the TAT revenues deposited in the tourism special fund;
(2) Requiring revenues, in excess of the $61,000,000, up to a maximum of $2,000,000, to be deposited as follows: ninety percent in the state parks special fund and ten percent to the Hawaii statewide trail and access program to care for those trails not under parks jurisdiction; and
(3) Depositing any moneys in excess of $63,000,000 in the tourism special fund into the state general fund.
Your Committee finds that Hawaii's parks are some of the most spectacular places in the world, and part of what brings people to visit the State. These resources should be experienced in the context of world class, well-designed, well-maintained park facilities, but unfortunately, this is not always the case. Facilities designed and built decades ago to handle a few dozen visitors are now overwhelmed by thousands of people every day. To various degrees, roads are crumbling, sewage systems overloaded, water supplies overdrawn, trails eroding, irrigation systems failing, picnic tables are collapsing, and shelters are falling apart. Work crews have little time for preventative maintenance in the struggle to keep the failing basic facilities on line.
Your Committee has heard that the DLNR Na Ala Hele Program, under the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, currently manages approximately 277 miles of hiking and multiple use trails statewide. A study in 2000 of fourteen trails located in both state parks and under the Na Ala Hele Program, conducted by students from the University of Hawaii Department of Urban and Regional Planning, determined that seventy-eight per cent of over 2000 individuals interviewed were from out of state. In addition, Na Ala Hele manages and regulates the commercial trail tour activities of twenty-one permitted operators on select trails statewide. Ten years ago there were virtually no trail tours in existence, and currently there is a growing demand for trail activity from visitors.
Your Committee acknowledges the nexus between the visitor industry and Hawaii's natural resource areas. Well over half of state park users are visitors to the islands, and as the survey has shown, the percentage is even higher on trails.
Your Committee has amended the measure to:
(1) Cap the amount that contractors who receive contracts from the Hawaii Tourism Authority can expend on administrative costs, including salaries and wages of the contractor, at ten percent of the contracted amount;
(2) Cap the TAT revenues deposited in the tourism special fund at $50,000,000, rather than $61,000,000, annually; and
(3) Authorize any excess money in the tourism special fund over $52,000,000, rather than $63,000,000, be deposited into the general fund.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2350, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2350, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
|
____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair |
||