STAND. COM. REP. NO. 374

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1737

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1737 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENTERPRISE ZONES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to define "long-term care facilities" and include care in long-term care facilities as part of a service business that may qualify for beneficial treatment within an enterprise zone.

 

     The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism submitted testimony in support of this measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that there is an increasing demand and need for long-term care facilities.  According to the testimony, many hospitals are unable to accept ambulance patients because of the large number of long-term care patients occupying hospital beds.  Including long-term care facilities in the list of businesses within the State Enterprise Zone statute that are eligible for seven years of tax credits and exemptions will help to reduce the long-term care facilities' operating costs and hopefully encourage the development of new and the expansion of existing long-term care facilities.

 

     It is your Committee's intent to support the inclusion of care in long-term care facilities as part of a service business that may qualify for beneficial treatment within an enterprise zone.  Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services and Public Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1737, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1737, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Economic Development and Taxation.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services and Public Housing,

 

 

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair