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COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII
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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.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the County Clerk shall transmit a copy of this
resolution to the Honorable Governor Neil Abercrombie, the Honorable Senate President Donna
Mercado Kim, the Honorable Speaker of the House of Representative Joe Souki, the Honorable
Senator Gilbert Kahele, the Honorable Senator Russell Ruderman, the Honorable Senator Josh
Green, the Honorable Senator Malama Solomon, the Honorable Representative Mark
Nakashima, the Honorable Representative Clift Tsuji, the Honorable Representative Richard
Onishi, the Honorable Representative Faye Hanohano, the Honorable Representative Denny
Coffman, the Honorable Representative Nicole Lowen, the Honorable Representative Cindy
Evans, the Honorable Mayor William P. Kenoi, and the Finance Director Nancy Crawford.
Dated at Kona , Hawaii, this 20th day of February , 2013.
INTRODUCED BY:
COUNCIL MEMBER, COUNTY OF HAWAII
COUNTY COUNCIL ROLL CALL VOTE
County of Hawai`i AYES NOES ABS EX
Hilo, Hawai`i EOFF X
FORD X
I hereby certify that the foregoing RESOLUTION was by ILAGAN X
the vote indicated to the right hereof adopted by the COUNCIL of the
County of Hawai`i on February adopted 2013 KANUHA X
KERN X
ONISHI X
ATTEST: POINDEXTER X
WILLE X
YOSHIMOTO X
9 0 0 0
Reference: C-136/Waived FC
COUNTY CLERK CHAIRPERSON &PRESIDING OFFICER RESOLUTION NO. 6O 13
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