STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1839

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Tourism, to which was referred H.B. No. 1839 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make camper vans a type of transient accommodation, the rental of which is subject to the transient accommodations tax.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Chair of the Maui County Council. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, and Maui Hotel and Lodging Association.

Your Committee finds that businesses and private individuals are increasingly renting camper vans to visitors that essentially function as transient accommodations in lieu of hotel rooms or transient vacation rentals. Your Committee notes concerns raised as to whether camper vans should be taxed as an accommodation, but as the counties do not have anything in place to address this, your Committee believes it is important to get ahead of this issue to avoid the same problems caused by short term vacation rentals.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the definition of "gross rental" or "gross rental proceeds" as it relates to the transient accommodations tax to exclude amounts collected as rental vehicle surcharge taxes;

(2) Changing the effective date to January 1, 2023, to allow the Department of Taxation time to make the necessary changes to its forms and system; 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 Labor & Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1839, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1839, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

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

____________________________

RICHARD H.K. ONISHI, Chair