STAND. COM. REP. NO. 697-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: H.B. No. 1828

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Tourism, to which was referred H.B. No. 1828, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TOURISM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to mitigate the negative impacts on communities caused by tourist activities by allocating $1,000,000 in transient accommodations tax revenues to the Hawaii Tourism Authority to support initiatives, in conjunction with the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association, to mitigate those negative impacts caused by tourists; provided that the funds are matched dollar-for-dollar by the private sector.

The Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association testified in support of this measure. The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and a concerned individual provided comments on this measure.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Increasing the amount allocated to the Hawaii Tourism Authority for initiatives that mitigate negative impacts caused by tourism activity to $10,000,000;

(2) Requiring the Hawaii Tourism Authority to submit a report to the Legislature on the expenditure of the $10,000,000 allocation of funds; and

(3) 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 Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1828, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1828, H.D. 2, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

RICHARD H.K. ONISHI, Chair