STAND. COM. REP. 2275
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: S.B. No. 2423
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2423 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHERS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to provide a tax credit for developers who lease state-owned lands to build housing for lease or rental to teachers employed in hard-to-staff public schools.
Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Education and Hawaii State Teachers Association. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to the bill from the Department of Taxation.
Your Committee finds that housing has always been a concern and a problem for Hawaii's public school teachers who are willing to work in geographically isolated areas with limited housing stock. Offering developers a tax credit to build housing for lease or rental to teachers would be very beneficial to both parties, and would facilitate teacher recruitment and retention.
Your Committee has amended the measure by:
(1) Replacing all references to "hard-to-staff" with "geographically hard-to-fill" to conform with standard language used by the Department of Education;
(2) Capping the tax credit for the program cumulatively at five million dollars;
(3) Requiring the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii to prequalify applicants to ensure that the annual program cap of five million dollars is not exceeded, and maintain a current list of fair market rental and lease rates for areas where teacher housing is eligible for the teacher housing tax credit program;
(4) Making uniform all references to applicable tax years as those beginning after December 31, 2003; and
(5) Allowing teacher housing in the City and County of Honolulu and the County of Hawaii to be eligible for this program if it is located in the state senatorial district adjacent to that of the geographically hard-to-fill public school.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2423, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2423, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,
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____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair |
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