April 20, 2017 — Update

1. Update;
2. Please get involved tomorrow;
3. Legislator Contact Info

Update

As we mentioned last week, all three bills that we are watching – SB686 to increase property taxes and SB704 and HB1471 on tax collection agents are now in “conference”.  Bills go to conference after passing through both houses but ending up with different versions.  The Senate amended the House bills and the House amended the Senate bills and now the versions need to be reconciled.

In a dramatic display turn of events this afternoon, SB686 – to increase property taxes and SB683 – to change the constitution to allow the counties to collect this tax, both died.  :-)  

According to witnesses, the House Chair, Rep Woodson and the Senate Chair, Senator Kidani got into a heated debate with Senator Kidani abruptly ending the meeting and thereby killing the two bills.  Rep Woodson pointed out all the legal and practical challenges with the bill – what RBOAA has been saying all along.  Sen Kidani, as chair of the Education committee, desperately wanted the bill and was prepared to deal with the problems later.    Expect this to arise again next year, but for now, your property taxes remain unchanged.  This bill, if passed would have cost all of us $1850 a year and for those with properties valued over $2 million, the saving is at least another $15,000 per year.   We don’t expect the teachers union will let this die, but hopefully next year, they will bring forward a more reasoned proposal.   HB 1471, which in our view is the vastly superior version of the two tax collection bills, seems doomed to die.  The Senate has not named conferees yet and no meeting is scheduled.   SB704, which is essentially the same bill that Governor Ige vetoed last year, is moving ahead in committee.  There have been two meetings already and another one scheduled next week.  To date, we haven’t heard anything official about what is being discussed, but we will let you know once we know.

Please Get Involved

As with any organization, people come and people go.  Every organization needs new people to take on responsibilities, provide new energy and new ideas.   RBOAA is no different and some members of your executive team have indicated that they will be stepping down at the end of this term.   This is your opportunity to get involved and take on a role within the leadership of RBOAA.   If you are interested, please contact Neal at president@rboaa.org indicating which areas you would like to get involved with and a brief description of your background.  Please also tell us where your vacation rental is and confirm that it is compliant with both state and county regulations.   Also:  it is never too late to financially support RBOAA.  While all our executive are volunteers, our lobbyist and legal advisor are paid professionals.  Check out the handy “Donate” button at www.rboaa.org

Legislator Contact Info

State Senators.  This table lists the contact information for all Senators.  Below the list is a summary of all email addresses which you should be able to copy and paste into your email To: field.

senbaker@Capitol.hawaii.gov; senchang@Capitol.hawaii.gov;  sendelacruz@capitol.hawaii.gov; senenglish@capitol.hawaii.gov; senespero@capitol.hawaii.gov; sengabbard@capitol.hawaii.gov; sengaluteria@capitol.hawaii.gov; sengreen@capitol.hawaii.gov; senharimoto@capitol.hawaii.gov; senihara@capitol.hawaii.gov; seninouye@capitol.hawaii.gov; senkahele@Capitol.hawaii.gov; senkeithagaran@capitol.hawaii.gov; senkidani@capitol.hawaii.gov; senkim@Capitol.hawaii.gov; senkouchi@Capitol.hawaii.gov;  sennishihara@capitol.hawaii.gov; senrhoads@Capitol.hawaii.gov; senriviere@capitol.hawaii.gov; senruderman@capitol.hawaii.gov; senshimabukuro@capitol.hawaii.gov; sentaniguchi@capitol.hawaii.gov; senthielen@Capitol.hawaii.gov;  sentokuda@capitol.hawaii.gov;  senwakai@capitol.hawaii.gov ;

House of Representatives:  This table lists all the members of the House of Representatives.  Below the list is a summary of all email addresses which you should be able to copy and paste into your email To: field.