Bill Text: HI HB2170 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Vital Statistics; Reporting

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-03-19 - (S) Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM. [HB2170 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-HB2170-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2823

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2170

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2170, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VITAL STATISTICS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Health to provide each county's real property assessment division with a monthly list of death records at no charge.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the County of Hawai‘i Finance Department.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Budget and Finance.  Testimony in support of the intent of this measure with amendments was submitted by the City and County of Honolulu, Real Property Assessment Division; the County of Maui, Real Property Tax Division; and the County of Kauai, Real Property Assessment Division.  Testimony in opposition to the intent of this measure with amendments was submitted by the Department of Health.  Testimony commenting on this measure was submitted by the Office of the City Clerk, City and County of Honolulu; the Office of the County Clerk, County of Hawai‘i; and the Office of the County Clerk, County of Maui.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees find that county real property tax divisions must maintain current information on the owners of all real property to ensure fair and equitable property tax assessments.  When real property tax divisions rely on out-of-date information the hardship falls on taxpayers who will then have to pay recalculated taxes or may have tax liens and penalties due from taxes being sent to a deceased person's address.  Your Committees find that by requiring the timely sharing of information between governmental agencies, this measure will facilitate the efficient and cost-effective administration of real property tax programs, thus enabling the public to be better served.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by replacing its contents with S.B. No. 2611, S.D. 2.  As amended, this measure:

 

     (1)  Removes the purpose section;

 

     (2)  Removes the requirement that the Department of Health make monthly submittals to county clerks and county real property assessment divisions of all persons of voting age or over whose deaths were recorded in the Department during the previous month;

 

     (3)  Requires the county clerk and the real property assessment division of each county, respectively, to send to the Department of Health, at agreed upon intervals, an electronic list of the names, birth dates, the final four digits of social security numbers, and last known addresses of all persons who are registered to vote in the State and all persons who are real property owners with homeowners' tax exemptions for verification of death;

 

     (4)  Permits the Department of Health to charge the county clerks a fee for verification of deaths;

 

     (5)  Amends section 338-14.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by providing the Department of Health with limited flexibility concerning setting the fee for verifying information and directing that the fee be deposited to the credit of the Vital Statistics Improvement Special Fund;

 

     (6)  Changes the amount of fees collected by the Department of Health for copies of certificates that the Director of Health must deposit to the credit of the Vital Statistics Improvement Special Fund;

 

     (7)  Amends section 338-14.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by removing the requirement that moneys from the Vital Statistics Improvement Special Fund used to modernize Hawaii's vital statistics system not supplant other moneys allocated to that program for daily operations; and

 

     (8)  Takes effect on July 1, 2099 for the purposes of facilitating further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2170, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2170, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Transportation, International and Intergovernmental Affairs,

 

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair		____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair