STAND. COM. REP. NO. 879
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2005
RE: H.B. No. 1308
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2005
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1308 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND CONSERVATION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to provide funding for land conservation efforts by:
(1) Redesignating the Fund for the Environment as the Land Conservation Fund (Fund);
(2) Dedicating 25 percent of the annual conveyance tax revenues to the Fund; and
(3) Providing that the Fund shall be used for the acquisition of interests or rights in lands having value as state resources based upon applications from state and county agencies and nonprofit land conservation organizations, and that grants to the latter two entities shall occur only where matching funds of at least 25 percent are available.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, two members of the Hawaii County Council, a member of the Maui County Council, North Shore Neighborhood Board No. 27, Trust for Public Land, Big Island Farm Bureau, Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, Sierra Club-Hawaii Chapter, Koolau Mountains Watershed Partnership, Kona Land Trust, Maui Coastal Land Trust, Conservation Council for Hawaii, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Malama Na Wahi Pana O Kohala, Malama Kohala Kahakai, Ducks Unlimited, Inc., Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Pahala Plantation Cottages, Ocean View Chamber of Commerce, and numerous concerned individuals testified in support of this bill. The Hawaii Agriculture Research Center supported the intent of this measure. The Departments of Agriculture, Taxation, and Land and Natural Resources opposed this bill. The Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii and Tax Foundation of Hawaii offered comments.
Your Committee has amended this bill by:
(1) Exempting the Fund from central service fees deducting five percent of all receipts of all special funds that are not exempted under section 36-27, Hawaii Revised Statutes;
(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2010, to encourage further discussion; and
(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1308, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1308, H.D. 1.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,
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____________________________ DWIGHT TAKAMINE, Chair |
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