STAND. COM. REP. NO.  179

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   H.B. No. 1719

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Tourism & Culture, to which was referred H.B. No. 1719 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GENERAL EXCISE TAX,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to exempt the following from the general excise tax:

     (1)  Amounts received by a submanager of an association of apartment owners or of certain nonprofit homeowners or community associations in reimbursement of sums paid for common expenses;

     (2)  Amounts received by an operator of a hotel from the owner of the hotel or from a timeshare association for employee wage and benefit costs disbursed by the operator; and

     (3)  Amounts received by a suboperator of a hotel from the owner of the hotel, timeshare association, or operator of the hotel, for employee wage and benefit costs disbursed by the suboperator.

     Outrigger Hotels and Wyndham Vacation Ownership, Inc., supported this bill.  The Department of Taxation offered comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing its effective date to January 1, 2025, to encourage further discussion; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments to correct drafting style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Tourism & Culture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1719, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1719, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Tourism & Culture,

____________________________

RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair