RES 060 Draft 01 2012-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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�J�`�os q ' COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII .os•N�.N . RESOLUTION NO.' 60 13 A RESOLUTION URGING THE HAWAII STATE LEGISLATURE TO REJECT ALL LEGISLATION WHICH WOULD ELIMINATE OR FURTHER CAP THE COUNTIES SHARE OF THE TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS TAX REVENUE. WHEREAS, Section 237D-6.5 of the Hawai`i Revised Statute (HRS) currently calls for 44.8 percent of transient accommodations tax (TAT) revenue to be transferred to the four counties of the State of Hawai`i, provided that "the total amount transferred to the counties shall not exceed $93,000,000 per fiscal year"; and WHEREAS, HRS Section 237D-2 also sets the County of Hawai`i's share of the 44.8 percent allotted to the counties at 18.6 percent, which effectively caps the TAT that is transferrable to the County of Hawai`i at $17,298,000 per year; and WHEREAS, the $93,000,000 cap on TAT transfers to the counties was originally written as a temporary measure to assist the State during tough economic times and is set to expire on June 30, 2015; and WHEREAS, due to the $93,000,000 limit on transfers to the counties, counties within the State of Hawai`i received less TAT revenue in 2012 than in 2009, despite the State seeing an increase in TAT revenue of over 50 percent during this time period; and WHEREAS, House Bill No. 971, introduced on January 22, 2013, and Senate Bill No. 1194, introduced on January 24, 2013, would simultaneously reduce the counties' share of TAT revenue from 44.8 percent to 28.9 percent while also eliminating the sunset date for the amounts to be distributed to the tourism special fund and the counties, forever capping the TAT revenue transferrable to the County of Hawai`i at $17,298,000 per year; and WHEREAS, a similar measure, House Bill No. 963, introduced on January 22, 2013, and Senate Bill No. 1202, introduced on January 24, 2013, would also eliminate the sunset date for the amounts to be distributed to the tourism special fund and the counties, forever capping the TAT revenue to the County of Hawai`i at $17,298,000 per year; and WHEREAS, Senate Bill No. 335, introduced on January 18, 2013, would completely stop the transfer of all TAT revenue to the counties, costing the County of Hawai`i millions of dollars in revenue and unjustly pressuring the counties of the State of Hawai`i to implement at 0.5 percent general excise tax surcharge; now, therefore BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII that the 2013 Hawai`i State Legislature is hereby urged to reject all legislation which would eliminate or further cap transient accommodations tax revenue designated for transfer to the counties.