STAND. COM. REP. NO. 423

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2019

RE: H.B. No. 908

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Tourism & International Affairs and Human Services & Homelessness, to which was referred H.B. No. 908 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to address the impacts of homelessness on Hawaii's tourism industry by:

(1) Allocating $1,000,000 from transient accommodations tax revenues to the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA), working in conjunction with the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association (HLTA), for the implementation of initiatives to address homelessness in tourist and resort areas;

(2) Providing that no funds shall be released unless matched dollar-for-dollar by the private sector; and

(3) Requiring HTA to submit a report to the Legislature prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2020 that includes the status of any initiatives implemented during the last three years and future initiatives that are planned to address homelessness in tourist and resort areas, and initiatives that were or will be executed in conjunction with HLTA, respectively.

The Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, HTA, HLTA, Maui Hotel & Lodging Association, O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and Kohala Coast Resort Association supported this measure. The Tax Foundation of Hawaii provided comments.

Your Committees have amended this measure by changing its effective date to July 1, 2099, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Tourism & International Affairs and Human Services & Homelessness that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 908, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 908, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Tourism & International Affairs and Human Services & Homelessness,

_______________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair

____________________________ RICHARD H.K. ONISHI, Chair