STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2600

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3048

       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. 3048, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAVEL AND TOURISM STIMULUS INITIATIVES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to stimulate new construction and renovation work through tax relief for:

     (1)  Employers that hire certain individuals at new or renovated hotel and resort facilities; and

     (2)  Large hotel and resort construction and renovation projects.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Goodsill Anderson Quinn and Stifel and The Pacific Resource Partnership.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that traditional financing has failed to generate new construction and renovation work in the hotel and resort industry.  The tax incentives in this measure will encourage new construction and renovation of hotels and resorts, thereby stimulating job growth in Hawaii.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

     (2)  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. 3048, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3048, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair