The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, a national non-partisan business advocacy group urges Governor Lingle to veto the retroactive changes to the high tech investment tax credit contained in SB2001. See their letter to the Governor below and stay tuned for Monday's national press release.

Please take action today to request the Governor's veto on SB2001 which, if it is allowed to become law, will further damage Hawaii's reputation as a place to do business and send many high-tech businesses into a tailspin.

Great job! Logic prevails on the first of two bills that break the state's past promises regarding high tech tax credits. Now we need a veto on SB2001 which will result in the early sunset of the credits.

This letter was written by Jeff Au, Managing Director of PacificCap Management Inc, and provides his take on the potential disastrous affects of passing SB2401. Please take a moment to read it and pass it along to your contacts. Please encourage them to speak to their Senators if they have not already done so.

This letter from Senator Fukunaga's office clarifies my misunderstanding of her conference committee vote "Aye, with reservations". She has stated her intention to vote against the bills seeking to damage the high tech investor tax credit.

SB2401 and SB2001 deferring and repealing the High Tech Investment Tax Credit may be approved by the legislature ON TUESDAY APRIL 27TH if you do not take immediate action to make your voice heard. CALL TODAY!!

SB2401 and SB2001 deferring and repealing the High Tech Investment Tax Credit may be approved by the legislature ON TUESDAY if you do not take immediate action to make your voice heard. I am writing to urge you to personally call your representatives TODAY to register your Strong Opposition to these retroactive changes.

If this bill becomes law you will not be able to claim your high tech investment tax credits until the 2013 tax year (regardless of when the investment was made!). I urge you to contact your elected representatives in Strong Opposition to this bill. A personal phone call to the office of your senators/representatives makes a powerful statement and you can follow that with an e-mail to reinforce your message.

See below for my testimony in opposition of HB 2962 which proposes deferring deduction of tax credits on investments made in the past. This one-page testimony tells some of my personal reasons for opposing the bill. I present it here only as a sample. Providing testimony electronically is one thing you can do...showing up at the hearings is probably a more impactful way to get your message across. I plan to do both.

Urgent action is needed to protect existing laws supporting our local tech industry as well as try to make some positive headway this session. Testimony is needed ASAP regarding these bills, all of which are being heard in committee this week.