Firearms, Sugary Drinks Tax, Property Acquisition, Floor Actions and More.

Senator Slom met with Max Cooper and Dan Reid to discuss Second Amendment issues and legislation that may impact firearm owners this session. This year several bills are on the docket that will limit second amendment rights if they should become law. Among them are SB 69, SB 219, SB 932, SB 628, SB 2, and SB 36. There are dozens more. Senator Slom is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and is a trustee of the Second Amendment Foundation.

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Floor Actions

Floor Session, Day 12: More bills passed 2nd reading.

Floor Session, Day 13: SB 995 passed third reading; 25-0

Floor Session, Day 14: The Senate passed SB 54 on third reading, which “allows the policy advisory board for elder affairs to recommend to the governor to honor non ex officio members by lifetime membership, which includes all the rights and privileges of a non ex officio member, upon approval by all regular members of the board. ” While the bill passed with a vote of 23 – 0, Senators Slom and Solomon both voted WR or “with reservations”. The Senate also passed SB 44 on third reading with a 23 – 0 vote.

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FROM THE FIELD: Hearing Summaries

Senate Health Committee (HTH): SB 1085: Imposes a fee on sugar-sweetened beverages. Establishes the Obesity Prevention Special Fund to support obesity prevention programs.

Testimony from members of the Obseity Task Force and the medical community were largely in favor of the bill. Retailers, restauranteurs and beverage firms are against the bill and see it as a new tax.

Victor Lim of McDonalds’ Hawaii testified that it would be difficult to figure out what is included in “sugary beverage”. He also expressed concerns about new business owners having trouble with the paperwork associated with the tax. Representatives from a Hawaii company who makes cans also expressed concerns about the impact the tax would have on more than 1300 jobs. The Governor was not present at the hearing. - Noelani Bonafacio

Photo above: Senator Slom had some questions for Loretta Fuddy concerning the tax on sugary drinks and the findings linking obesity to them. Like all other new tax bills that have come before, Senator Slom will be voting “no” on this bill.

Photo below: The Heatlh committee hearing was packed on the sugary drinks tax bill.

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Senate Water & Land Committee (WLT): SB 894 – Land Acquisition – Turtle Bay Hilton Hotel properties: Of the testimony submitted, 243 were in Support and 23 were in Opposition. However many of those who attended the hearing were in opposition. Although I did notice that many were employees. They expressed that Turtle Bay has given North Shore residents jobs and recreational opportunities. The opponents of the bill stated that they’ve been deceived before and that the development plan was misleading, in terms of traffic and the size of their development. Senator Solomon was concerned that the disagreement between Turtle Bay and Defend O’ahu Coalition was not the State Senate’s issue to resolve, but the City and County’s. However, the chair of the WTL committee allowed the bill to move forward to allow continued discussion. (Passed with amendments 4 – 0; 3 excused; Senator Slom voted in the affirmative). – NB

Agenda & Platform of the Senate Minority for 2013

State Senate Minority (SSM) leader Sam Slom (R-9 O’ahu) released the agenda and platform of the Senate Minority for 2013:

“So that there is no mistake, or confusion, and our position is clear and apart from both the Executive and Majority Legislative branches, I am addressing several special initiatives for this session,” Slom said.

“The Senate Minority continues to believe, based on our independent professional analysis, that Hawaii’s economy has not ‘turned the corner,’ ‘rebounded,’ or improved across the board, with the exception of Hawaii’s visitor industry which has posted record gains. However, construction has not rebounded, and retailing, wholesaling and manufacturing, remain flat. Future major federal assistance is in doubt with the death of Senator Daniel Inouye. Real personal income and our residents’ ability to pay more has not kept pace with rising consumer prices. Therefore, the Senate Minority absolutely and unapologetically opposes any tax, spending or debt increase.” Selected SSM Positions (for a complete listing go to http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov or senateminority.wordpress.com.)

• SSM SUPPORTS “A Better Day” For Isle Residents: SSM believes we should enhance local residents’ standard of living by reducing government, lowering taxes, improving the small business climate and offering consumers more competitive choices in the market place.
• SSM SUPPORTS an Alternative, Slimmed Down, Balanced State Budget Based on Realistic Economic Outlooks: Instead of showing increases of 8% and 11% in budget growth over the next two fiscal years, and adding back social welfare programs and 3,000 more public employees, the SSM budget, which will shortly be on-line, will show programs and activities that should be cut out of the budget in order to balance the budget and make it affordable to Hawaii’s taxpayers. Needed services will be prioritized and not cut while underperforming and wasteful programs will be eliminated.
• SSM OPPOSES the Governor’s increase in the state minimum wage by $1.50 to $8.75 an hour. The minimum wage is an entry, training wage, and not tied to productivity. Only a small percentage of Hawaii’s total workforce receive the minimum wage. It takes choice away from employers and penalizes good workers. A higher wage actually destroys jobs for those seeking a start because an employer pays additional mandates tied to the wage including, matched social security, medicare, unemployment, TDI, workers’ compensation and training. Smart Business Hawaii (SBH) estimates these costs add another 30-35% to the basic wage.
• SSM SUPPORTS Repayment Into the Hurricane Relief and Rainy Day Funds, and the Pay Down of Unfunded ERS & EUTF Liabilities. SSM Supports the Administration’s fiscal promise to fully repay these funds and reduce our crippling worst-in-the-Nation unfunded liabilities.
• SSM OPPOSES the “Sugary Beverage Tax” The Governor and State Department of Health continue to pursue a tax on beverages containing sugar. Interesting that Hawaii once had a thriving sugar cane industry. The proposal is to add 1¢ per ounce for all beverages with sugar in order to stem childhood obesity. SSM believes it is the parents’ responsibility to take care of their own children, to regulate intake of all foods and beverages, encourage physical activity and limit use of cell phones and electronic equipment. Money collected would be on top of existing General Excise and Beverage Deposit taxes in Hawaii and further penalize lower income consumers, hurt business and their employees, and grab the extra money for the General Fund, unrelated to obesity.
• SSM OPPOSES the Governor’s Early Education initiative. This is the latest version of previously state-subsidized pre-Kindergarten schemes that all failed. The proposal does not add more facilities or resources, just shifts the estimated $32 million (to start) funding from individuals who should be responsible for their own children, to all taxpayers. The State has a terrible record of educating K-12 government school students and should concentrate on improvement there before introducing any new subsidy programs.
• SSM SUPPORTS Real Government Transparency, Including Initiative, Referendum, Recall and Term Limits SSM continues to support and encourage maximum citizen input (IR&R)
• SSM OPPOSES the Public Land Development Corporation (PLDC): SSM believes the PLDC is fatally flawed, denies citizen input, exempts the state from its own environmental laws, takes prime agricultural land and forces people into Transit Oriented Development (TOD) high density units.
• SSM SUPPORTS Major Reforms in the University of Hawaii: SSM believes that the 2012 Senate hearings uncovered several major management and financial flaws within the sprawling University of Hawaii System and supports all 18 Senate Committee recommendations, more transparency, and changes in the UH Administration governance, Board of Regents, and compensation and benefit packages.
• SSM OPPOSES the Undersea Cable and N.I. Wind Turbines: SSM supports voluntary, incentive driven alternative energy sources but opposes a $2 billion undersea electric cable and expensive wind turbines on Lanai and Molokai, in opposition to the views of residents, to help power O’ahu at an increased cost to HECO ratepayers.

Governor Advocates for More Taxes and Spending

Senator Slom attended a joint session of the State Legislature on January 22 to listen to Governor Abercrombie’s “State of the State” address. The Governor proposed more spending on several state programs and proposed to increase or add several taxes including the conveyance, taxing sugary drinks (soda, juices), and plastic bags. He also proposed to increase the minimum wage, which is not meant to be a living wage, but merely an “entry level wage” which will add increased financial burden on business and help reduce the number of jobs in the marketplace. Senator Slom’s comments on the Governor’s speech can be found in his online weekly column at SBH with further commentary and the speech itself at HawaiiReporter.com.

Photo: Governor Abercrombie at the podium before the joint session of the Legislature with Senator’s seated in the front rows (foreground).

Beverage Container Tax Set to Increase

Hawaii Beverage Consumers Will Soon Be Paying More

Originally published in HawaiiReporter.com July 18, 2012.

It’s a hot summer here in the islands, but those seeking relief from a cool beverage will soon be paying more.

The state Department of Health, the agency that manages the fund, plans to increase the controversial 6 cent beverage container tax by a half cent starting September 1.

The tax is charged to manufacturers, distributors and importers of beverages in Hawaii, and that tax is then passed on to consumers.

The Department of Health does not need additional approval from the legislature, because the increase was already written as an option into the law. The way the law was structured, the more the public cooperates and recycles, the more the chance of the tax being increased.

“State law requires the container fee to increase from one cent to 1 1/2 cents per container if the redemption rate exceeds 70 percent, unless the director of health, in consultation with the state auditor, determines that a fee increase is not needed. The statewide redemption rate from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, remained strong at 77 percent; the rate for the previous year was 76 percent,” the health department said in a press release.

Health Director Loretta Fuddy said: “The half-cent fee increase was written into the bottle law from its inception to ensure the recycling program could sustain itself and continue to pay back deposits to consumers. We were able to hold off a fee increase for four years by using existing funds; however, the special fund is now too low to continue the program through 2014, and the current fee is not enough to build critical program reserves necessary to conduct essential operations.”

But the increase does not come without controversy – or questions from the law’s critics.

The fund has been raided multiple times by the Hawaii state Legislature for a total of $9.7 million between Fiscal Years 2009 and 2011 to balance the state operating budget.

“An additional $9.6 million decrease in the program’s funds during FY2009-11 was primarily due to legislative impacts that removed the exemption from the Central Services Fees ($2.7M per year), two raids (Act 124 (11) and Act 192(10)) ($1.3M total) and the transfer of interest earned ($1.2M per year),” said Janice Okubo, spokesperson for the Department of Health.

Even without the raids, Okubo said, “the container fee would eventually need to be increased a half cent to sustain the program because of the high redemption rates each year.”

The department has continued to expand its bureaucracy, leaving the department spending $3.4 million more than its annual revenue for this program.

Sen. Sam Slom, (R-Hawaii Kai to Diamond Head), said: “I have been opposed to and voted against every piece of this legislation that amounts to a power grab for the state Department of Health. I have warned that the tax will continue to increase without any legislative oversight. This is a perfect example of government out of control by punishing people for what it said had to be done for recycling. In other words, the more people recycle and are responsible, the more they will be penalized. The fact that the legislature also uses the beverage container special fund as a cash cow amply demonstrates that this scheme is more about money and taxation and less about the environment. Finally if re-elected I will again introduce legislation to abolish this program and make all recycling a county function as is done in the Mainland.”

The Health Department determined this year “the current fee structure and special fund balance would leave the HI-5 program underfunded in 2014 and unable to continue operations.”

The Health Department estimates the increase will bring in $4.5 million annually.

“As a result of the fee increase imposed on beverage distributors, consumers will likely see the additional half-cent fee added to their retail purchases of HI-5 labeled containers beginning September 1. This means that the deposit plus container fee will increase to 6 1/2 cents – a 5 cent deposit to be returned to the consumer when the container is recycled and a non-refundable 1 1/2 cent container fee to cover administrative costs,” the health department said.

Since its inception, the HI-5 program has recycled more than 4.71 billion containers. In the last fiscal year, more than 690 million containers were recycled, helping to significantly reduce litter and conserve resources.

Original Story Link:

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/?p=52297