STAND. COM. REP. NO. 165

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 655

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 655 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONVEYANCE TAX,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Director of Taxation to provide the administrator of each county's real property assessment division with an image of all certificates of conveyances filed with the Bureau of Conveyances.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from three county departments.

     Your Committee finds that this measure would enable the counties to promptly track ownership, encumbrances, restrictions, uses, and sales prices of real property for the purpose of determining real property tax assessments.

     The current method, whereby the city makes weekly pickups of the printed certificates from the Department of Taxation, is not efficient and would be greatly improved with electronic data

transfers of the conveyance certificates filed with the Bureau of Conveyances.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 655 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair