Legislature
Convened Special Session
July
15, 2005
On
Tuesday, July 12, the Hawaii State Legislature
convened a one-day special session to
override 12 of the 28 vetoes made by
Governor Linda Lingle. The state constitution
states that a two-thirds vote of each
House (Senate and House of Representatives)
is needed to override the Governor's
vetoes.
The
battleground for the fight against the
general excise tax surcharge is now
at the City Council. The Council will
have a Budget/Transportation Committee
hearing toward the end of July and is
scheduled to meet on final reading of
Bill 40 on August 10 at Kapolei Hale.
The Honolulu Board of REALTORS®
City Affairs Committee will review a
plan of action to continue this campaign
at its next meeting on July 20. Please
look for further calls to action and
information on the campaign to defeat
the tax in future bulletins from the
HBR and from HAR.
For
a full list of veto messages by the
governor, see
http://www.hawaii.gov/gov/session-2005
For
a revised handout of HAR's 2005 Legislative
Update, see http://www.hawaiirealtors.com/download/05legupdate.pdf
Here
are some bills that were overridden
by the Legislature after being vetoed
by Lingle:
SB
960 – Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund
Appropriates
$8 million from the Hawaii Hurricane
Relief Fund for tsunami preparedness
efforts.
SB
1685 – Tax Information
Allows
the State to share taxpayer information
with counties to help strengthen county
tax collection efforts.
Here
are some bills that became law without
Governor's signature:
HB
1309 – County Surcharge on State GET
Authorizes
counties to levy a county surcharge
on State tax to fund public transportation
systems in their respective counties;
repeals transit capital development
fund.
SB
1778 – Unlicensed Contractors
Requires
unlicensed contracting citation to include
cease and desist order. Authorizes minimum
$10,000 fine for violation of order.
HB
895 – Coastal Light Pollution
Prohibits
artificial light that directly illuminates
the shoreline and ocean waters, subject
to limited exceptions for hotels and
government agencies. Directs special
management area authorities to minimize
coastal light pollution.
SB
294 – Minimum Wage
Raises
the minimum wage to $6.75 effective
January 1, 2006 , and to $7.25 effective
January 1, 2007 .
Here
are some bills that were vetoed:
HB
1450 – Gender Identity in Employment
Prohibits
discrimination on the basis of gender
identity and expression as a public
policy matter and specifically with
regard to employment.
HB
1554 – Leasehold Capital Gains Exclusion
Excludes
from taxable income 50% capital gains
realized, not to exceed $75,000 in the
aggregate for all taxpayers, during
taxable year 2006 from sale of leased
fee interest in residential house lot
or multi-family residential leasehold
property to the lessee.
