HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii lawmakers are once again proposing to extend Oahu’s tax to fund Honolulu’s multibillion-dollar rail project.
The House’s Transportation Committee amended a bill on Wednesday so that it extends Oahu’s general excise tax surcharge past 2027, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported (http://bit.ly/2nPMfZe). The amended measure doesn’t specify how long the extension would be.
Lawmakers also amended the bill so that the measure once again calls for a portion of the rail surcharge to fund state highway projects. The details of that revenue-sharing have not been worked out.
In 2015 and this year, the Legislature’s transportation committees have been more accommodating to Honolulu on rail than money committees, which have called for tougher restrictions.
Last month, the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee removed the language from the measure that provided a tax extension before the bill moved to the House.
The measure now heads to the House’s Finance Committee where it’s expected to receive scrutiny.
“Of course, we will be grilled before Finance,” Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said Wednesday at the Capitol after the Transportation Committee’s 7-1 vote. “(Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit) and I and everyone else needs to be ready to answer the tough questions.”
Negotiations to settle the differences between the House and Senate’s version of the bill will take place during the session’s conference committees.