STAND. COM. REP. NO.  16

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

RE:   H.B. No. 935

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 935 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to protect Hawaii's forest watersheds by increasing the conveyance tax on certain real estate transactions and reallocating the distribution of conveyance tax proceeds to the Natural Area Reserve Fund for watershed protection and invasive species control and to the Rental Housing Trust Fund.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter; Partners in Care; Maui Invasive Species Committee; The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i; Conservation Council for Hawai‘i; Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species; The Trust for Public Land; and two individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure.  The Hawai‘i Association of REALTORS and The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii submitted testimony in opposition to this measure.  Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice and Catholic Charities Hawai‘i submitted comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting unspecified amounts for the conveyance tax imposed on real property transactions for properties valued at $2,000,000 or more;

     (2)  Inserting unspecified amounts for the percentage of conveyance tax proceeds to be allocated to the Rental Housing Trust Fund and Natural Area Reserve Fund, respectively;

     (3)  Providing that the amendments relating to the amount and allocation percentage of the conveyance tax shall be repealed on June 30, 2016; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 935, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 935, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Housing.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

CINDY EVANS, Chair