STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2082

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2268

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2268 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require a portion of the general excise tax to be deposited into the Hawaiian home administration account for operational expenses of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Auamo I Na Alaka‘i, and Waimanalo Hawaiian Homes Association.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has lacked sufficient funding from the State for its operational expenses since 1960.  Allocating a set sum of money from general excise tax revenues to the Hawaiian home administration account will ensure that the Department's operational expenses are appropriately and consistently funded.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2268, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2268, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair