Bill Text: HI HB1298 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Tax Credit; Individual with a Disability; Employment

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2013-04-25 - Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-26-13 1:45PM in conference room 229. [HB1298 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HB1298-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 951

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1298

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1298, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to assist developmentally, intellectually, or physically disabled individuals in obtaining employment by providing an incentive for employers to hire these individuals.  Specifically, this measure establishes a nonrefundable income tax credit for employers that hire developmentally, intellectually, or physically disabled individuals that is equal to fifty percent of the individual's qualified wages for the first six months the individual is employed.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, and Lanakila Pacific.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii is one of the lowest ranking states in the nation in terms of employing individuals with intellectual or development disabilities.  The trend is toward fully integrated employment of individuals with disabilities, which provides them with the self-esteem and gratification that comes with being a fully participating member of society.  Additionally, employment contributes to their economic self-sufficiency and makes individuals with disabilities less dependent on taxpayer-funded assistance.

 

     Your Committee is concerned about businesses that currently employ individuals with a disability.  To qualify for this tax credit, some businesses may be inclined to consider terminating employees with a disability before December 31, 2013, and then rehire the terminated employees in 2014 to take advantage of the tax credit.  The intent of this measure is not to cause termination of their employment, even if only to rehire them during the tax credit period.  Your Committee finds that this issue raises concerns and requests that your Committee on Ways and Means further examine this issue.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing references from "developmentally, intellectually, or physically disabled individuals" to "individuals with a disability";

 

     (2)  Deleting language that would have required that a person be confirmed as having a disability by a non-profit organization working with disabled individuals;

 

     (3)  Specifying that qualified wages are those wages for work tendered during the six-month period after initial hiring, to prevent the firing and re-hiring of a disabled employee every six months to reset the qualifying period; and

 

     (4)  Specifying that this measure shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2013.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1298, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1298, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

 

		____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair