With Congress poised to approve a budget before the end of the year, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard sent a letter to House Budget Committee leaders Tuesday requesting that Hawaii be exempt from Transportation Security Administration fees that would increase by more than double.
"Such an increase would have a negligible budget impact for the nation, but would create undue hardship for Hawaii residents who have extremely limited transportation options," Gabbard’s letter said.
House leaders announced Wednesday that a budget deal with bipartisan support had been reached Tuesday. On Thursday the House approved the measure and sent it to the Senate, which is expected to approve it sometime next week.
The proposed budget package would increase the Aviation Passenger Security Fee to $5.60 from $2.50 on a one-way ticket, and to $11.20 from $5 round trip, Gabbard’s office said.
"When we talk about fees for service, we’ve got to recognize Hawaii’s unique circumstance that just in the normal course of daily life, we have our air service serving as a lifeline for people in a lot of different ways," Gabbard told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday. "It’s not just the convenient option; it’s the only option."
Gabbard also spoke on the House floor Wednesday to publicly appeal to her colleagues.
"We have six major islands where people live with no interisland railway, no highway or ferry system that connect each of these islands," she told House members. "People who commute back and forth, people who look for access to health care, have no option other than to fly, and in some cases this air route is an essential lifeline in each of these areas."
In her letter addressed to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and ranking House member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Gabbard said the fee increase would generate less than $17 million within the state of Hawaii, which amounts to less than 0.2 percent of the $317 million the fee would bring in nationwide. The Hawaii revenue is based on less than 6.8 million total interisland trips taken in 2012.
Given that a one-way ticket from Honolulu to Kona can go for as low as $67.42 with $11.68 in fees and taxes already tacked on at checkout, the proposed fee increase would raise taxes and fees on that ticket by 26.5 percent. Going round trip between islands just once a month would cost nearly $75 more in fees per year.
"While I recognize the need to continue supporting TSA’s important mission in securing our air transportation system, I am hopeful that the conferees will balance this need against the minimal revenue gained and the critical need for air transportation in Hawaii," Gabbard said in the letter.
The first-term congresswoman said she hopes lawmakers will realize that precedent has already been set to exempt Hawaii travelers from certain air travel-related legislation. Flights between two or more points in Hawaii are exempted from passenger facility fees, she noted, and the air transportation tax on domestic flights departing from Hawaii is fixed at $6 compared with the $12 tax imposed on flights in the mainland.
