STAND. COM. REP. NO.  664-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 474

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 474 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to clarify that an association's duty to report to the Department of Taxation is limited to the relevant information an association actually receives from a transient accommodation operator and limit the fines imposed on an association while also holding an owner or operator of a transient accommodation accountable for failure to report.

The Department of Taxation; Hawaii Association of Vacation Rental Managers; Community Associations Institute's Legislative Action Committee; Princeville at Hanalei Community Association; Hawaii First, Inc.; CAI LAC; and numerous individuals testified in support of this measure.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Amending the penalties for operators who wilfully fail to supply the required information to a certain association or nongovernmental entity for the property where the transient accommodation is located;

     (2)  Clarifying that a fine shall not be imposed for an operator's non-wilful conduct, unless the operator fails to furnish or update the relevant information within sixty days of the discovery of the negligence, administrative error, or other non-wilful conduct;

     (3)  Specifying that the penalty for a nongovernmental entity that fails to report to the Department of Taxation the required information shall be imposed not more than once per year;

     (4)  Increasing the scope of the relevant information to be reported; 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 Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 474, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 474, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair