Bill Text: HI SB2959 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Counties; Taxation; Transit Enhancements

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-07 - (S) Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM. [SB2959 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SB2959-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2050

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2959

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2959 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSIT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize a county with a population greater than five hundred thousand that adopts a county surcharge on state tax ordinance to use at least one percent of the surcharge to fund transit enhancements.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting and one individual.  Comments were received from Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees find that transit enhancement projects are designed to foster more livable communities, preserve and protect environmental and cultural resources, and promote alternative modes of transportation.  A successful rapid transit system requires several supportive policies and programs.  In addition to timely and dependable service, it must also connect people to where they want to go.  As part of this connectivity, there needs to be adequate walkways, bikeways, and connections to and from transit stations.  This multi-modal system needs to be not only safe and convenient, but it must also be part of the strategy of upgrading and enhancing the neighborhoods it serves.  The transit enhancement elements under this measure would help integrate the transit system into the communities it services.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure on the recommendation of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation by:

 

(1)  Clarifying the purpose section to indicate the mandatory for expenditure of funds on certain enhancements under this measure;

 

(2)  Deleting references to the use of the surcharge revenue for preservation of certain historic structures and for bus shelters, since these uses may conflict with section 46‑16.8, Hawaii Revise Statutes, prohibiting the use of the surcharge to support public transportation systems already in existence prior to July 12, 2005; and

 

(3)  Clarifying that the use of surcharge revenue for enhancements to accessibility for persons with disabilities does not require more access than is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2959, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2959, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs,

 

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair		____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair