Bill Text: HI SCR54 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Rail Transit System; Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-12 - Referred to TIA/PSM, WAM. [SCR54 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SCR54-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	54
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the city and county of honolulu to expand the rail system to waikiki and the University of Hawaii at manoa by limiting the number of rail stations on the guideway.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation ("HART") was established as a semi-autonomous public transit authority, approved by voters in 2010, and is responsible for planning, construction, operation, maintenance, and expansion of the City and County of Honolulu fixed guideway system; and

 

     WHEREAS, studies for HART's mass transit system show that if the track guideway is extended about ten miles to include Waikiki and the University of Hawaii at Manoa, there would be a reduction in gridlock on the H-1 freeway; and

 

     WHEREAS, thirty-five percent of construction for rail transit is being paid for with funds from the Federal Transit Administration; twenty-three percent is being paid by tourists visiting Oahu as part of the existing one-half percent general excise tax surcharge; and forty-two percent is being paid by Oahu residents and businesses through the general excise tax surcharge; and

 

     WHEREAS, in December 2012, HART Chief Executive Officer Dan Grabauskas revised the HART project cost status for the proposed twenty mile guideway to $1,115,000,000, or $557,500,000 per ten miles of guideway; and

 

     WHEREAS, if HART extends the guideway to Waikiki and the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the cost would total $1,665,000,000; and

 

     WHEREAS, if the State gives the City and County of Honolulu $350,000,000 of the surcharge revenues currently being withheld by the state pursuant to section 248-2.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and if HART limits the number of the costly stations to only the major "must have" stations along the guideway, HART would have the needed funds to build the last ten miles of the entire thirty mile project and give Oahu a truly revolutionary way to travel and cut down on gridlock; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, the House of Representatives concurring, that the City and County of Honolulu is urged to expand the rail system to Waikiki and the University of Hawaii at Manoa by limiting the number of rail stations on the guideway and using additional state tax revenues; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Finance is requested to transfer all but $1,000,000 of the funds collected from the general excise tax surcharge to the City and County of Honolulu for the extension of the track guideway; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the $1,000,000 withheld from the general excise tax surcharge go to the Department of Taxation for any costs incurred in the collection of the one-half percent general excise tax surcharge; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, Director of Taxation, Director of Finance, and Chief Executive Officer of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Rail Transit System; Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation