STAND. COM. REP. NO. 629

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1201

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1201 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS TAX,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify that a resort fee or other surcharge imposed by a transient accommodations operator, owner, plan manager, or representative is subject to the transient accommodations tax.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Taxation.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa, Destination Resorts Hawaii Inc., Maui Hotel and Lodging Association, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Outrigger Enterprises Group, and Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees find that there is confusion over the type of transient accommodation fees that are subject to the transient accommodations tax.  Your Committees conclude that mandatory resort fees or mandatory surcharges are subject to the transient accommodations tax because the guest must pay these fees in order to use the transient accommodation.  Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending the definition of "resort fee" to mean any mandatory charge or surcharge imposed by a transient accommodations operator, owner, plan manager, or representative thereof to a transient or occupant for the use of the transient accommodation's property, services, or amenities and making conforming amendments;

 

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

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1201, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1201, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Tourism and Hawaiian Affairs and Ways and Means,

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

 

____________________________

BRICKWOOD GALUTERIA, Chair