STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1347

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 79

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 79, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NON-GENERAL FUNDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to repeal or reclassify various non-general funds in accordance with the Auditor's recommendations in Auditor's Report No. 14-13.

Specifically, this measure:

     (1)  Repeals the:

         (A)  Pineapple Workers and Retirees Housing Assistance Fund;

         (B)  Public Facility Revenue Bond Special Fund;

         (C)  Capital Formation Revolving Fund;

         (D)  Statewide Geospatial Information and Data Integration Special Fund; and

         (E)  Fee Simple Residential Revolving Fund; and

     (2)  Reclassifies the:

         (A)  Tourism Emergency Trust Fund as a special fund;

         (B)  Housing Project Bond Special Fund – Multi Family as a revolving fund;

         (C)  Housing Loan Program Revenue Bond Fund, also known as the Single Family Mortgage Purchase Revenue Bond Fund, as a revolving fund;

         (D)  Rental Housing Trust Fund as a revolving fund; and

         (E)  Housing Loan Program Revenue Bond Special Fund – Rental Housing System as a revolving fund.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Auditor and Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii and Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation.

     Your Committee finds that this measure implements some of the recommendations made by the Auditor, in Auditor's Report No. 14-13, to repeal or reclassify various non-general funds.  Your Committee believes that repealing or reclassifying funds will help to ensure that all funds meet the statutory criteria for a special fund, revolving fund, trust fund, or trust account established by the Legislature.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Making a conforming amendment to section 201H-100, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

     (2)  Adding language to ensure that the amendments made to section 36-27, Hawaii Revised Statutes, will not be repealed when that section is reenacted on December 31, 2015, pursuant to section 7 of Act 124, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014;

     (3)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; 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 Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 79, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 79, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair