STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2597

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3040

       S.D. 2

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 3040, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote car-sharing by exempting rentals made from car-sharing organizations from the rental motor vehicle surcharge.     

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation and the Blue Planet Foundation.

     Your Committee finds that there are over a million vehicles in Hawaii, with the vast majority being passenger vehicles.  Some of these vehicles are owned by residents who drive them only a few times a week or by those who must purchase a large vehicle for work, but cannot afford to purchase a second fuel-efficient vehicle for personal use.  Your Committee finds that car-sharing programs can address the needs of these residents and others while simultaneously reducing Hawaii's fuel consumption and the concomitant toll on the environment.  Your Committee further finds that providing a rental motor vehicle surcharge tax exemption to car-sharing programs will remove one barrier hindering the growth of car-sharing programs in this State.       

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Clarifying, within the definition of "car-sharing organization", that the term refers to non-profit car-sharing organizations;

(2)  Deleting the new paragraph (3) being added to section 251-2(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes, because it is redundant of the proviso language being added to the same section to exempt a car-sharing organization from the rental motor vehicle surcharge tax;

(4)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to promote further discussion; and

(5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, 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. 3040, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3040, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair