STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2188
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2006
RE: S.B. No. 3075
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2006
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3075 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL LAND,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to provide a tax credit for important agricultural lands (IAL) county property taxes.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by C&H Farms, Kamehameha Schools, and the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Taxation, the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Budget and Fiscal Services and Department of the Corporation Counsel, the County of Hawaii's Finance Department, and the Tax Foundation of Hawaii. Comments were submitted by the Department of Agriculture.
Your Committees find that providing incentives for landowners and farmers on IAL are very crucial to our agricultural industry's well-being. Thus, this measure:
(1) Establishes an IAL tax credit equal to the amount of county property taxes paid by taxpayers who use their IAL for commercial agricultural purposes; and
(2) Reduces each county's portion of the transient accommodations tax revenue by the amount of credits claimed against each county's property tax assessments.
Your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Changing the effective date to provide that on July 1, 2050, section 237D-6.5(b) and (c) shall be amended to include the changes made in this measure;
(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050 to ensure ongoing discussions on this issue; and
(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3075, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3075, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Intergovernmental Affairs,
|
____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair |
____________________________ RUSSELL S. KOKUBUN, Chair |
|