STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1467

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1153

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1153, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VETERANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to exempt certain veterans from the requirement of paying annual vehicle registration fees.

     Specifically, this measure;

(1)  Exempts disabled veterans who:

(A)  Are residents of the State;

(B)  Have been other than dishonorably discharged;

(C)  Have a service-connected, one-hundred per cent disability rating;

(D)  Satisfy an annual income limit; and

(E)  Receive disability retirement pay,

from the payment of annual vehicle registration fees; and

(2)  Requires the Office of Veterans' Services to submit an annual report to the Legislature and the Department of Taxation regarding the number of disabled veterans that qualify for the annual vehicle registration fee exemption.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Office of Veteran Affairs.  Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that providing a limited exemption from vehicle registration fees would provide some financial assistance for disabled veterans who have served valiantly and sacrificed to defend the United States.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Deleting the provisions that establish an income ceiling as a qualification for the exemption established by this measure;

(2)  Codifying, in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, the provisions that require the Office of Veterans' Services to submit an annual report to the Legislature and the Department of Taxation regarding the number of disabled of veterans that qualify for the exemption established by this measure;

(3)  Specifying that the measure applies prospectively to motor vehicle registrations issued or renewed after an unspecified date;

(4)  Making the measure effective upon its approval; and

(5)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1153, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1153, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair