Report Title:
Special Purpose Revenue Bonds; Tradewinds Forest Products, LLC
Description:
Authorizes the issuance of special purpose revenue bonds to assist Tradewinds Forest Products, LLC with planning, design, constructing, and equipping facilities for the production of the company's core products.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2878 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO SPECIAL PURPOSE REVENUE BONDS TO ASSIST TRADEWINDS FOREST PRODUCTS, LLC.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds and declares that the issuance of special purpose revenue bonds under this Act is in the public interest and is beneficial to the public health, safety, and general welfare.
The legislature finds that it is in the public's interest to support economic development and job growth, expansion of the state's promising forest products industry, and non-petroleum- based generation electric power. The legislature therefore finds that support for a new eucalyptus wood veneer manufacturing facility will provide over one hundred family-wage jobs, further the development of a state-based world class forest products industry, and generate three to five megawatts of renewable electric energy for general consumption to be in the public's interest.
The legislature further finds that Tradewinds Forest Products, LLC, proposes to build a $30,000,000 facility on the Hamakua coast that will process domestic eucalyptus logs, some harvested from state-owned plantations, into high strength, thin veneer sheets for exportation. The same facility would generate surplus electricity from the burning of wood by-products.
The legislature finds that the issuance of special purpose revenue bonds under this Act will assist Tradewinds Forest Products, LLC, in constructing its veneer mill and cogeneration facility and make the combined facility more economically feasible and will provide numerous other benefits, including:
(1) Providing family-wage jobs to facility employees, as well as to loggers and truckers supplying and transporting timber to the mill, and personnel replanting and maintaining the forest plantations;
(2) Providing skilled industrial jobs in a location where economic activity is behind the norm and unemployment is above state averages;
(3) Developing a new export product for the state by using a renewable resource unique to Hawaii's location in the United States, which may later result in local production of selected building products;
(4) Possibly becoming a precursor to a major forest products industry in our state by taking advantage of our exceptional climate to grow superior timber;
(5) Producing electric power for public consumption efficiently from local renewable resources that will help the State of Hawaii and the federal government meet goals and mandates for energy efficiency and renewable energy use;
(6) Creating the potential to efficiently and economically dispose of green waste in the region; and
(7) Generating millions of dollars of construction project spending and building the skill base of local workers.
SECTION 2. Pursuant to part V, chapter 39A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the department of budget and finance, with the approval of the governor, is authorized to issue special purpose revenue bonds in a total amount not to exceed $25,000,000, in one or more series, for the purpose of assisting Tradewinds Forest Products, a limited liability corporation, for one or more of the following:
(1) The establishment of a veneer mill and an associated cogeneration plant for the combined production of eighty million to one hundred million square feet of eucalyptus one-eighth of an inch thick veneer and up to five megawatts of electricity from renewable resources; and
(2) The financing of the costs related to the planning, design, and construction of the facility, including the costs of constructing, equipping, and purchasing tangible assets, including land, for a facility site.
The legislature hereby finds and determines that the activity and facilities of Tradewinds Forest Products, LLC, constitute a project as defined in part V, chapter 39A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and the financing thereof is assistance to industrial enterprise.
SECTION 3. The special purpose revenue bonds and the refunding special purpose revenue bonds issued under this Act shall be issued pursuant to part V, chapter 39A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to the power to issue special purpose revenue bonds to assist industrial enterprises.
SECTION 4. The department of budget and finance is authorized, from time to time, including times subsequent to June 30, 2011, to issue special purpose revenue bonds in whatever principal amounts the department shall determine to be necessary to refund the special purpose revenue bonds authorized in section 2 and to refund special purpose revenue bonds authorized in this section, regardless of whether the outstanding special purpose revenue bonds or refunding special purpose revenue bonds have matured or are the subject of redemption or whether the refunding special purpose revenue bonds shall be bonds for the multi-project programs described in section 2. In making this determination, the department shall comply with federal law relating to the exemption from federal income taxation of the interest on bonds of the nature authorized by this section.
SECTION 5. The authorization to issue special purpose revenue bonds under this Act shall lapse on June 30, 2011.
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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