Bill Text: HI SB775 | 2022 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To The Transient Accommodations Tax.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-04-14 - Received notice of disagreement (Sen. Com. No. 871). [SB775 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2022-SB775-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
775 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021 |
S.D. 2 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
H.D. 1 |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS TAX.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawaii's natural resources, including reefs, beaches, oceans, forests, streams, estuaries, and shorelines, provide irreplaceable and invaluable benefits to residents, visitors, and the global community at large. These ecosystems are vital to the State's visitor industry and the resident community's identity.
The legislature also finds that the State's vital ecosystems and the resources they harbor continue to decline due to the lack of adequate implementation of proven and effective conservation approaches and rising pressures of climate change.
Hawaii residents already contribute to the protection and management of the State's natural resources through taxes, environmental care and management, subsistence and cultural practices, and civic responsibility driven by values and practices embodied in the state constitution. However, with escalating impacts, there is an immediate need for additional resources to protect, restore, and manage natural and open space resources. It is reasonable and timely to create a permanent fund to protect, restore, and care for these resources.
The legislature believes that it is necessary and appropriate to allocate transient accommodations tax revenues to help offset the impacts and ensure that a positive environmental legacy is left for future generations. A natural resource management special fund with commission oversight will ensure disbursements are targeted to address the purposes of the fund.
The purpose of this Act is to:
(1) Establish a natural resource management special fund for the natural resource management commission to address impacts to natural resources and management of natural and open space resources that are important to residents and the visitor industry;
(2) Establish a natural resource management commission to guide and approve the disbursement of moneys deposited into the natural resource management special fund;
(3) Allocate annually, $30,000,000 in transient accommodations tax revenues to the natural resource management special fund;
(4) Allocate $60,000,000 in transient accommodations tax revenues to the Hawaii tourism authority; and
(5) Repeal the transient accommodations tax allocation of $3,000,000 to the special land and development fund.
SECTION 2. Chapter 201B, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding three new sections to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§201B-A Natural resource management special fund; establishment.
(a) There is established within the state treasury
the natural resource management special fund, which shall be expended by the natural
resource management commission to address impacts to natural resources and manage
natural and open space resources that are important to residents and the visitor
industry, including:
(1) Offsetting adverse
environmental impacts caused by resident and visitor use and ensuring that the State's
natural and open space resources are maintained for continued use by visitors and
future generations, such as projects that directly restore, enhance, and protect,
in perpetuity, Hawaii's state-owned natural and open space resources and the State's
unique and vulnerable ecosystems;
(2) Protecting, restoring,
or enhancing terrestrial or marine natural resources;
(3) Increasing the resilience
and adaptation of Hawaii's natural and open space resources with environmentally
beneficial strategies to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change, including
coastal erosion, sea level rise, ocean acidification, coral bleaching, destruction
of reefs, and other impacts;
(4) Removing and controlling
invasive species and propagating and planting native species; and
(5) Addressing deterioration
and removal of dilapidated, condemned, obsolete, or unused buildings or structures
located on state land that could otherwise be used as a public park or open space,
particularly when the land is in close proximity to the ocean or coastline and can
be revitalized for public use and enjoyment.
(b) The following moneys shall be deposited into the
natural resource management special fund:
(1) Transient accommodations
tax revenues allocated to the natural resource management special fund pursuant
to section 237D-6.5(b);
(2) Appropriations made
by the legislature; and
(3) Grants and gifts made to the fund.
§201B-B
Natural resource management commission;
establishment; powers; duties. (a)
There is established the natural resource
management commission which shall be placed within the Hawaii tourism authority
for administrative purposes. The commission
shall be composed of:
(1) The following ex
officio, voting members:
(A) The
chief executive officer of the Hawaii tourism authority or the chief executive officer's
designee, who shall serve as the chairperson of the commission;
(B) The
director of business, economic development, and tourism or the director's designee;
(C) The
chairperson of the board of land and natural resources or the chairperson's designee;
(D) The
chairperson of the board of agriculture or the chairperson's designee;
(E) The
director of the office of planning and sustainable development or the director's
designee; and
(F) The
head of each county's visitors bureau or, if none, a representative of each county's
visitor industry, to be selected by the respective mayor; and
(2) The following voting
members, who shall be nominated by the officials provided in this paragraph and
shall be appointed by the governor in the manner prescribed in section 26-34:
(A) One
representative of a nonprofit organization having expertise in impacts to natural
resources and the management of natural and open space resources that are important
to residents and the visitor industry, who shall be nominated by the chairperson
of the commission;
(B) One
representative of a nonprofit organization having expertise in addressing deterioration
and removal of dilapidated, condemned, obsolete, or unused buildings or structures
located on state land that could otherwise be used as a public park or open space,
particularly when the land is in close proximity to the ocean or coastline and can
be revitalized for public use and enjoyment, who shall be nominated by the director
of business, economic development, and tourism;
(C) One
representative of a nonprofit organization having expertise in the protection, restoration,
and care of terrestrial natural resources, who shall be nominated by the chairperson
of the board of land and natural resources;
(D) One
representative of a nonprofit organization having expertise in the protection, restoration,
and care of marine and coastal natural resources, who shall be nominated by the
chairperson of the board of land and natural resources;
(E) One
representative of a nonprofit organization having expertise in climate change mitigation
and resiliency, who shall be nominated by the director of the office of planning
and sustainable development;
(F) One
representative from the Native Hawaiian community who has expertise in the protection,
restoration, care, and interpretation of native Hawaiian cultural resources, who
shall be nominated by the chairperson of the commission;
(G) One
representative between the age of eighteen and twenty-five years, inclusive, who
works or has worked in the field of environmental sustainability or restoration,
or both, who shall be nominated by the chairperson of the commission; and
(H) One
representative from the visitor sector and tourism industry, who shall be nominated
by the chairperson of the commission.
(b) A simple majority of the members shall establish
a quorum.
(c) The members shall serve without compensation but
shall be reimbursed for expenses, including travel expenses, necessary for the performance
of their duties.
(d) The natural resource management commission may
hire staff necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section. The staff, at a minimum, shall include one full-time
equivalent permanent manager position and one full-time equivalent permanent clerical
position.
(e) The natural resource management commission shall:
(1) Expend no more than three per cent of
the annual allocation of transient accommodations tax revenues to the natural resource
management special fund for administrative and staffing expenses;
(2) Expend revenues deposited into the natural
resource management special fund through the provision of grants to state agencies,
the counties, and non-profit organizations for the purposes of the fund; provided
that no more than five per cent of the moneys disbursed for the grants from the
fund may be used for personnel and other administrative costs; and
(3) Promote transparency and accountability
in determining the specific uses for and disbursements from the fund, subject to
the uses authorized under section 201B-A.
§201B-C Report to legislature. (a)
No later than twenty days prior to the convening
of the regular session of 2025 and each year thereafter, the Hawaii tourism authority
shall submit a report to the legislature.
(b)
The report shall contain information on ways
that the natural resources management special fund addressed impacts to natural
resources and managed natural and open space resources that are important to residents
and the visitor industry during the previous fiscal year and the benefits to the
State's natural and open space resources that accrue or will accrue from those expenditures.
(c) The Hawaii tourism authority shall also publish
the annual reports on its website."
SECTION 3. Section 237D-6.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) Except for the revenues collected pursuant to section 237D-2(e), revenues collected under this chapter shall be distributed in the following priority, with the excess revenues to be deposited into the general fund:
(1) $1,500,000
shall be allocated to the Turtle Bay conservation easement special fund beginning
July 1, 2015, for the reimbursement to the state general fund of debt service on
reimbursable general obligation bonds, including ongoing expenses related to the issuance of the bonds,
the proceeds of which were used to acquire the conservation easement and other real
property interests in Turtle Bay, Oahu, for the protection, preservation, and enhancement
of natural resources important to the State, until the bonds are fully amortized;
(2) $11,000,000 shall be allocated to the convention center enterprise special fund established under section 201B-8;
(3) An allocation shall
be deposited into the tourism emergency special fund, established in section 201B-10,
in a manner sufficient to maintain a fund balance of $5,000,000 in the tourism emergency
special fund; [and
(4) $3,000,000
shall be allocated to the special land and development fund established under section
171-19; provided that the allocation shall be expended in accordance with the Hawaii
tourism authority strategic plan for:
(A) The
protection, preservation, maintenance, and enhancement of natural resources, including
beaches, important to the visitor industry;
(B) Planning,
construction, and repair of facilities; and
(C) Operation
and maintenance costs of public lands, including beaches, connected with enhancing the visitor
experience.]
(4) $30,000,000 shall
be allocated to the natural resource management special fund established under section
201B-A; and
(5) $60,000,000 shall
be allocated to the Hawaii tourism authority.
All transient accommodations taxes shall be paid into the state treasury each month within ten days after collection and shall be kept by the state director of finance in special accounts for distribution as provided in this subsection."
SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the natural resource management special fund the sum of $30,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 for:
(1) The purposes of the fund established under section 201B-A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, established by this Act; and
(2) Administrative and staffing expenses for the natural resource management commission to include one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) permanent manager position and one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) permanent clerical position.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the natural resource management commission for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 5. There is appropriated out of the transient accommodations tax revenues the sum of $60,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 for operating expenses of the Hawaii tourism authority.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the Hawaii tourism authority for its operations.
SECTION 6. In codifying the new sections added by section 2 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in designating the new sections of this Act.
SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that the amendments made to section 237D-6.5(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes, by section 3 of this Act shall not be repealed when that section is reenacted on June 30, 2023, pursuant to:
(1) Section 9 of Act 229, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021; and
(2) The provisions of H.B. No. 2049, if passed in any version by the legislature during the regular session of 2022 whether before, on, or after the effective date of this Act, that preserve the amendments made to section 237D-6.5(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes, by section 13 of Act 1, Special Session Laws of Hawaii 2021.
Report Title:
Transient Accommodations Tax; Hawaii Tourism Authority; Tourism; Natural Resource Management; Fund; Commission; Report; Appropriation; Positions
Description:
Establishes the natural resource management special fund and authorizes uses for moneys in the fund. Establishes a natural resource management commission to guide and approve the disbursement of moneys deposited into the fund. Allocates transient accommodations tax revenues to the natural resource management special fund. Allocates transient accommodations tax revenues to the Hawaii tourism authority. Repeals the allocation of transient accommodations tax revenues to the special land and development fund. Appropriates funds from the natural resource management special fund and for operating expenses of the Hawaii tourism authority. (HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
