Report Title:

Civil Defense; Transient Accommodations; Tax Credit

 

Description:

Requires owners of certain transient accommodations to provide disaster shelters for their guests and provides a tax credit to owners for costs of constructing the disaster shelters.

 

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

27

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO CIVIL DEFENSE.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Chapter 128, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§128-    Shelters; transient accommodations.  (a)  The owner of any transient accommodations shall provide for the health, safety, and welfare of its guests during civil defense emergency periods, including:

     (1)  Establishing evacuation plans for guests and staff; and

     (2)  Constructing an on-site disaster shelter; provided that the shelter is:

         (A)  Certified as to its design by the department of defense; and

         (B)  Capable of holding at least sixty-five per cent of the maximum occupancy level of the transient accommodations.

     (b)  For the purposes of this section:

     "Civil defense emergency period" has the same meaning as that term is defined in section 128-2.

     "Transient accommodations" has the same meaning as that term is defined in section 237D-1; provided that the accommodations has at least     separate units that are available for guests."

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 235, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§235-    Transient accommodations shelter tax credit.  (a)  There shall be allowed to each eligible taxpayer who is subject to the taxes imposed by this chapter and who is not otherwise eligible to be claimed by another as a dependent for federal or state income taxes, a transient accommodation tax credit for qualified costs incurred to construct a disaster shelter under section 128-  .

     (b)  The amount of the tax credit shall be equal to      per cent of the qualifying costs incurred to construct a disaster shelter under section 128-  .

     (c)  The tax credit allowable under this section shall be claimed against the net income tax liability, if any, imposed by this chapter for the taxable year in which the credit is properly claimed.

     (d)  If the tax credit under this section exceeds the taxpayer's income tax liability, the excess of credit over liability may be used as a credit against the taxpayer's income tax liability in subsequent years until exhausted.

     (e)  All claims, including amended claims, for a tax credit under this section shall be filed on or before the end of the twelfth month following the close of the taxable year for which the credit may be claimed.  Failure to comply with the foregoing provision shall constitute a waiver of the right to claim the credit.

     (f)  The director of taxation:

     (1)  Shall prepare any forms that may be necessary to claim a tax credit under this section;

     (2)  May require the taxpayer to furnish information to ascertain the validity of the claim for the credit made under this section; and

     (3)  May adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to effectuate this section.

     (g)  As used in this section:

     "Eligible taxpayer" means an owner of a transient accommodations, as that term is defined under section 128-  , who incurs qualifying costs to build a disaster shelter under section 128-  .

     "Qualifying costs" means any cost incurred for the plans, design, construction, and equipment related to the new construction of a disaster shelter or the alteration or modification of an existing structure to build a disaster shelter under section 128-  ."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 2 of the Act shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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