STAND. COM. REP. NO.  27

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.B. No. 1257

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Tourism, to which was referred H.B. No. 1257 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to clarity the authority of the Board of Land and Natural Resources and Hawaii Tourism Authority to expend Transient Accommodations Tax revenues allocated to the special land and development fund.

The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and the Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association supported this measure.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of the Auditor, and Tax Foundation of Hawaii offered comments on this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing its effective date to July 1, 2020, to promote further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1257, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1257, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Water & Land.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Tourism,

____________________________

TOM BROWER, Chair