STAND. COM. REP. NO. 999
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2005
RE: S.B. No. 1236
S.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2005
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1236, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CIGARETTE TAX,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to discourage smoking, especially in young people, by incrementally increasing the tax on cigarettes over the next three years and to allocate the revenues derived therefrom to the state general fund and tobacco prevention programs.
Specifically, the measure attempts to increase the excise tax per cigarette for the next three years as follows:
(1) To 7 cents for every cigarette sold, used, or possessed by a wholesaler or dealer after September 30, 2005;
(2) From 7 cents to 8 cents for every cigarette sold, used, or possessed by a wholesaler or dealer after June 30, 2006; and
(3) From 8 cents to 8.50 cents for every cigarette sold, used, or possessed by a wholesaler or dealer after June 30, 2007.
The measure also allocates the tax revenues derived from the cigarette tax as follows:
(1) Twenty-five per cent of the tax revenues derived to the state general fund;
(2) Twenty-five per cent of the tax revenues derived to the Department of Health for health promotion and disease prevention programs; and
(3) Fifty per cent of the tax revenues derived to be paid into the Hawaii tobacco prevention and control trust fund.
Your Committee has amended the measure by:
(1) Reordering certain sections in the measure to reflect recommended drafting conventions;
(2) Redrafting the proposed tax increases to avoid implementation conflicts;
(3) Raising the proposed tax increases to 9, 11, and 13 cents after June 30, 2006, June 30, 2007, and June 30, 2008, respectively;
(4) Moving the proposed language that allocates the tax revenues from section 245-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to section 245-15, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as those provisions are more appropriately placed in the disposition of tax revenue section of chapter 245, Hawaii Revised Statutes;
(5) Clarifying that only the tax revenues that are realized over the initial 7 cents per cigarette are to be allocated in the percentages previously described to the state general fund, the Department of Health, and the Hawaii tobacco prevention and control trust fund; and
(6) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.
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. 1236, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1236, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
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____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair |
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