STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1007-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 2518

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2518 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LAND CONSERVATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to encourage the preservation and protection of land in the state by establishing a Land Conservation Incentives Tax Credit to allow taxpayers to deduct:

(1)  50 percent of the value of the interest in lands donated in perpetuity for conservation purposes to the State or conservation agency; or

(2)  50 percent of the amount invested in the management of lands for conservation purposes under a land protection agreement,

up to $2,500,000, from their net income tax liability.

     The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc., The Trust for Public Land, Historic Hawaii Foundation, and several concerned individuals supported this bill.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Department of Taxation, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, and the Environmental Center of the University of Hawaii submitted comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing its effective date to January 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

     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. 2518, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2518, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair