STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3026

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1772

       H.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 1772, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE GENERAL EXCISE TAX,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to increase United States Armed Services veterans' access to quality health care by establishing a general excise tax exemption for any amounts received by a contractor of the Patient-Centered Community Care program for the actual costs or advancement to third party health care providers pursuant to a contract with the United States.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Taxation; Military Officers Association of America, Hawaii Chapter; and TriWest Healthcare Alliance Inc.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

     Your Committees find that the Patient-Centered Community Care program is an innovative solution to help the United States Department of Veterans Affairs' medical centers provide quality and efficient health care to veterans.  This program enables the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to work with local community health care providers to give veterans access to high-quality care closer to home.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1772, H.D. 1 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Health,

____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair