Two state Senate committees, meeting jointly, have advanced a bill that that would extend the tax surcharge that’s funding Oahu’s rail transit project for an additional 25 years.

The original language of Senate Bill 19 aimed to make the 0.5 percent surcharge on Oahu’s general excise tax permanent.  Instead, on Thursday, members of the Senate’s Transportation and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs committees added the provision to limit it.

The committees further added provisions that would require the state auditor to review the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s financial books before the 2016 legislative session and would divert half of the state’s 10 percent administrative collection fee of that surcharge to Transit Oriented Development efforts on the island, instead of the state’s general fund.

The bill will next go before the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee for a hearing at a date to be determined.