[mellie]

Really critical for Affiliates in Hawaii, the public hearing is tomorrow, Monday March 23 at 1:15PM in conference room 016 .

I was reading through the testimony that has been presented so far and there is a fascinating letter from Amazon on page 6 of the testimony.

Amazon states that if the law passes they will terminate affiliates from Hawaii. See page 6 Testimony on HB1405 http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2009/Testimony/HB1405_Testimony_EDT_03-20-09.pdf

HB1405 seems closely modeled after the NY law (except instead of a sales tax Hawaii actually has an excise tax on business transactions).

[mellie]

The committee voted to recommend passage. Bill now moves on to second third reading, House vote....

Anyone who thought NY wasn't a big deal and now thinks Hawaii isn't important is sadly mistaken. No single state is more important than any other.

Whether it's 1 affiliate or hundreds, it matters to me. Any affiliates from Hawaii or any state deserve help. Feel free to ask me any questions.

[CathyM]

Thanks for the update Mellie. It's not good news. The letter from Amazon saying they will remove Hawaii Associates (affiliates) if the bill passes has implications for many of us.

IMO, its a lose, lose proposition. Hawaii does not get the Amazon sales tax. Hawaii based affiliates lose their income, and Hawaii loses that income tax revenue too.

[Markiphone]

I wonder whether the committee thought Amazon was bluffing? Or maybe didn't realize what Amazon was saying?

[Julian123]

What kind of affiliates are we talking about here?