STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1053

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2021

RE: S.B. No. 1023

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Culture, Arts, & International Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1023, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allocate fixed amounts of transient accommodations tax revenues to provide funding for the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and Iolani Palace.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa; Kanaeokana; Bishop Museum; Iolani Palace; Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement; ‘Aha Pūnana Leo; Kamehameha Schools; Hawai‘i Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice; Papa Ola Lokahi; The Queen's Health Systems; Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo; The Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture; Aloha State Services, Ltd.; Oahu Economic Development Board; The Friends of Iolani Palace; Friends of Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden; Historic Hawai‘i Foundation; Society for Hawaiian Archaeology; and fourteen individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee finds that Bishop Museum curates millions of objects and artifacts of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Hawaii immigrant culture and history; provides programs that offer scientific, cultural, and educational lessons to thousands of school children each year; and supports economic development and tourism. Your Committee also finds that Iolani Palace, as the only royal palace in the United States, is both an important historical building as well as a tourism venue. Your Committee recognizes that the economic impacts caused to the State by the COVID-19 pandemic, including a decrease in tourism and restrictions on public gatherings, have resulted in a substantial loss of revenue to Bishop Museum and Iolani Palace. The allocation of transient accommodations tax revenues proposed by this measure ensures the continued operation of Bishop Museum and Iolani Palace and supports both institutions' roles in Hawaii's culture.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the fixed allocations of transient accommodations tax revenues to the Bishop Museum and Iolani Palace to unspecified amounts.

Should your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider allocating $750,000 to Iolani Palace and $1,500,000 to the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Culture, Arts, & International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1023, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1023, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Culture, Arts, & International Affairs,

____________________________

CEDRIC ASUEGA GATES, Chair