STAND. COM. REP. NO.  202

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.B. No. 1387

      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. 1387 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONSERVATION AND RESOURCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to protect Hawaii's unique and limited natural resources by establishing a surcharge for the sale of activities by activity desks with the resulting funds to be deposited into the Conservation and Resource Enforcement Special Fund.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs supported this measure.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs offered comments.

Should the Committee on Water and Land further deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider clarifying the mechanism to enforce the remittances of the activity desk surcharge.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that activity desks remit their surcharges to the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs;

     (2)  Creating an activity desk surcharge subaccount;

     (3)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2020, to promote further discussion; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     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. 1387, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1387, 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