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Note to lawmakers: If you commission a study and don’t like its findings, it doesn’t mean the study was done incorrectly. Some legislators are questioning the recommendation of a 13-member panel — one that lawmakers established — to reconfigure the distribution formula for the state hotel room tax, known as the transient accommodations tax (TAT), to give a larger share to the counties.
Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke and Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda questioned the conclusion, which would deliver an extra $69 million to the counties next fiscal year. They said the panel didn’t follow directions, to figure out how to equitably split the responsibilities of the state and counties and distribute the TAT accordingly. Huh.
No sanctuary expansion for marine life
Community involvement can get things done — or shut down.
The latter was the result in the case of the proposed expansion of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
The draft action, floated by the federal Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, would have added “special sanctuary management areas” at Maunalua Bay, Penguin Bank off Molokai and around Maui County.
The plan raised a ruckus among boaters, fishing groups and others worried they’d be unduly constrained from pursuing their use of the waters. So the plan has been withdrawn. Advocates for protecting marine life will have to use available channels — sounding the alarm at the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, for starters.
