Senate bills move to the House!

First Crossover, the first major deadline of the session, is tomorrow, Thursday March 12th. This means all Senate bills in their final form that have passed Third Reading cross over to the House to be heard by House committees.

During a lengthier floor session than usual, the Senate yesterday voted on a total of 338 bills that had yet to pass Third Reading. There were a few bills that fell away as casualties but most made it through. The current tally? The Senate started with 1,690 bills introduced at the beginning of session and are now down to 402 bills. On the other side, the House started with 1,843 bills and have passed 327 bills. 

Here’s a look at some of the bills that move on to the House (view the complete list of Senate and House bills that passed First Crossover here):

Addressing the budget deficit

SB 1624 SD1  Proposing an amendment to the Hawaii Constitution to allow the legislature to either fund the tax credit under Article VII, Section 6 of the Constitution, or deposit the same amount into the emergency and budget reserve fund - Constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to use future budget surpluses for tax credits or deposit surplus into the rainy day fund      

SB 199 SD1  Relating to Taxation - Repeals all state tax credits after 12/31/2010 to provide more revenue to close Hawaii’s budget deficit      

SB 698 SD3  Relating to the Rental Motor Vehicle and Tour Vehicle Surcharge - Increases the rental motor vehicle and tour vehicle surcharge tax of which a portion will be deposited into the general fund       

Recommitted SB 1626 SD1  Relating to Taxation – Bill taking $150 million from city transit tax to close the state’s budget deficit was recommitted to the Committee on Ways and Means after Chair Donna Mercado Kim received a letter from U.S. Senator Inouye voicing his concerns  

Energy and sustainability     

SB 243  Relating to the Deposit Beverage Container Program - Requires retailers with more than 75,000 sq. ft. of retail space to participate in state’s bottle-and-can recycling program  

SB 559 SD2  Relating to Recycling – Directs DAGS to establish a mandatory recycling program for all state buildings and facilities by 2011

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