STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2603

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3348

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 3348 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to change the state registration fee and the state vehicle weight tax amounts.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Transportation, Tax Foundation of Hawaii, and Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

Your Committee finds that the State Highway Fund is currently funded from state motor vehicle registration fees, alternative fuel electric vehicle surcharges, and state motor vehicle weight taxes that pay for operations, maintenance, and improvements to land transportation facilities and serve as a state match for federal funding. According to testimony received by your Committee, these revenues perform critical construction to provide a safe, efficient, and accessible surface transportation system. This measure aims to reduce the cost of basic transportation, build safer infrastructure, and produce a more equitable method of taxation dependent upon individual usage. Your Committee finds that more data is needed to ensure thoughtful decision-making regarding the State Highway Fund.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting its contents and inserting language to provide authority to the Director of Finance to develop means to identify additional data about vehicle registration and requiring collected data to be included in the registration database; and

(2) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3348, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3348, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

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CHRIS LEE, Chair