by Larry Geller, Disappeared News, February 3, 2015

Someone has to keep an eye on the House.

So we’ll try.

Today’s catch is a waiver of the required 48 hour notice that helps assure that the public is able to participate in the legislative process.

It seems to be the first waiver granted this session by House Speaker Joe Souki.

This waiver appears to have been granted because the Tourism committee only meets one day a week on Wednesday mornings, and these bills have been assigned triple referrals. The hearing will be held tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.

While waivers are never a good thing, perhaps this one was justified. In any case, I’ve listed up the bills below that are affected. If you’re interested in following any of them, click on the bill for more information and a link to the hearing agenda.

Bills affected by the waiver:

HB1452 Zoning

Authorizes the counties to permit the amortization or phasing out of nonconforming single-family transient vacation rental units or nonconforming single-family transient vacation units over a reasonable period of time in an area of any zoning classification. (UPDATE: Passed 'with amendments.')

HB1257 TAT

Allocates $3,000,000 of transient accommodations tax revenues to the special land and development fund to be expended according to the mutual agreement of the board of land and natural resources and board of directors of the Hawaii tourism authority and in accordance with the long-range strategic plan for tourism. (Passed 'with amendments'.)

HB 1448 TAT

Repeals expenditure from the tourism special fund for development and implementation of initiatives to take advantage of expanded visa programs and increased travel opportunities for international visitors to Hawaii, which expires June 30, 2015. Allocates funds to the special land and development fund to be expended according to a mutual agreement of the board of land and natural resources and the board of directors of the Hawaii tourism authority in accordance with the long-range strategic plan for tourism developed by the Hawaii tourism authority instead of authorizing the allocation to be subject to the mutual agreement under the Hawaii tourism authority strategic plan. (Passed 'with amendments'.)

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