LEGISLATURE 2003 STATUS REPORT
Business/Taxes

Advertiser Staff

Here are many of the major bills of the 2003 legislative session that cleared Friday's deadline to be written in their final form and positioned for voting by the Senate and House this week. Lawmakers will take final votes Tuesday and Thursday. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on Thursday.

Bills that pass both houses will be sent to Gov. Linda Lingle for signature or veto. Lawmakers can override a veto by a two-thirds vote of each house.

Ko Olina tax break
(SB 377 SD1 HD2 CD1)

Establishes a 7.5 percent tax credit for 10 years on qualified development costs at the Ko Olina Marina and Resort beginning in 2005.

Hotel construction tax credit
(HB 1400 HD1 CD1 SD2)

Extends the hotel construction and remodeling tax credit. Increases the nonrefundable tax credit to 8 percent for four years and 4 percent in the following four years.

Hawaii Tourism Authority contracts
(SB 1460 SD1 HD2 CD1)

Requires the Hawaii Tourism Authority to include in its annual report details regarding contracts using public funds and establishes that intellectual property arising out of HTA's works for hire contracts shall become the property of the state.

Hawaii Tourism Authority
(SB 1462 HD2 CD1)

Requires the Hawaii Tourism Authority to establish a Hawaii tourism registry of groups of state residents traveling out-of-state to market and promote Hawaii. Allows the HTA to appoint a sports coordinator. Appropriates $8 million from the tourism special fund for the HTA to respond to unstable market conditions resulting from world conflicts, terrorist attacks, and the outbreak of SARS.

Airport concessionaires
(SB 44 SD2 HD2 CD1)

Provides economic relief for airport concessionaires by giving them breaks on their rent until gross receipts return to pre-Sept. 11 levels.

Economic diversification
(HB 1579 HD1 SD2 CD1)

Requires the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to "create a vision and develop a long-range plan" for economic diversification in the state.

Business registration
(HB 1165 HD2 SD1 CD1)

Updates and clarifies Hawaii's business registration laws to reflect modern business practices and department filing procedures.

Film and television production tax credit

Increases the motion picture and television production tax credit up to 8 percent for costs incurred on counties with a population over 700,000, and up to 10 percent for costs incurred on counties with a population of 700,000 or less.

Kalaeloa tax credit

Establishes an investment tax credit for qualified investments in the motor sports facility to be developed at Kalaeloa, parcel 9.

Job creation tax credit

Establishes a tax credit to employers who hire people and pay them annual wages of $25,000 or higher and keep them for at least two years. The credit would equal $5,000 per qualified employee, provided that two-thirds of the credit is used for workforce training.

Airline tax credit

Would provide a tax credit for landing fees for airlines that have a domicile based in Hawai'i.

County taxing authority

Allows counties to charge a sales tax in exchange for giving up 50 percent share of their transient accommodations tax revenues with the exception of O'ahu, which would be required to give up all of its hotel room tax revenues.

General excise tax increase

Would increase the general excise tax from 4 percent to 4.5 percent to be offset with a food tax credit of up to $100 per person. The measure is estimated to raise about $80 million to be earmarked for education, with $70 million for the state Department of Education and $10 million for the University of Hawai'i.

Research tax credit

Establishes a research and development income tax credit for qualifying small businesses.

Health insurance tax credit

Allows certain small businesses to claim an income tax credit of up to 15 percent of prepaid health insurance premiums paid for employees and their families.