Establishes a resident advisory board to advise the HCDCH in matters relating to public housing and rental assistance programs. Adds two public members representing public housing and rental assistance tenants to the HCDCH board.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to comply with the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, Public Law 105-276, 112 Stat. 2461, (QHWRA), by establishing a resident advisory board that shall be responsible for:

In addition, this Act establishes two additional public seats on the HCDCH board of directors in order to comply with QWHRA's requirements that public housing and rental assistance tenants have representation on the corporation's board. The two public members of the HCDCH board shall be individuals who are directly assisted by the corporation under the programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for either public housing or Section 8 rental assistance.

SECTION 2. Chapter 201G, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding three new sections to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§201G-    Resident advisory board established. (a) The corporation shall establish Island Tenants on the Rise as a resident advisory board for persons residing in federal public housing or receiving federal Section 8 assistance in the State. The resident advisory board shall:

(b) The resident advisory board shall be composed of twenty-one members as follows:

(c) The corporation shall recognize any other jurisdiction-wide resident council, as defined under federal regulations, that requests to be designated as a resident advisory board.

(d) Members shall serve on a voluntary basis; provided that members may receive reimbursement for expenses incurred in the discharge of their duties, including travel and child care expenses, and per diem at the current rate for officers of the corporation.

(e) The corporation shall not adopt rules with respect to the establishment of the resident advisory board, other than those rules established in Housing and Urban Development regulations.

§201G-    Notice of vacancies; election to the resident advisory board. (a) During every even-numbered year, the corporation shall send a written notice of vacancies on the resident advisory board to all active resident associations. Additionally, the corporation shall send a notice of vacancies to all public housing managers who shall post the notice in a conspicuous public place on the housing premises. The notice shall allow an active resident association a minimum of forty-five days to notify the corporation of the association's intent to nominate a member to the resident advisory board.

(b) The corporation shall convene a meeting at which each active resident association may vote to elect members to fill the vacancies on the resident advisory board. Each active resident association may have one representative at the meeting who shall be the association president or the president's designate.

(c) If the corporation receives fewer nominations than vacancies on the resident advisory board, the corporation shall provide written notice to all active resident associations that any person who resides in a public housing project that does not have an active resident association may seek nomination to the resident advisory board if the person obtains signatures in support of the person's nomination from a majority of residents in the person's housing project. Additionally, notice shall be sent to all public housing managers and posted in a conspicuous public place on the housing premises. Signatures in support of a nomination shall be received by the corporation no later than sixty days after the posting of the notice. After the deadline for receiving nominations has passed, the officers of the resident advisory board shall select persons to fill the vacancies on the board from among the nominees; provided that a housing project without an active resident association shall not be denied representation on the resident advisory board if there are more vacancies than nominees for the resident advisory board.

§201G-    Resident advisory board's nomination of members to the corporation's board. (a) The resident advisory board shall recommend to the governor a maximum of three individuals who reside in public housing or who receive Section 8 assistance, for each of the two public member seats on the corporation's board required to be filled by a resident of federal low rent public housing or federal Section 8 tenant-based housing assisted by the corporation.

(b) The resident advisory board shall select the nominees at a public meeting. Written notice of the meeting shall be sent to all active resident associations no later than twenty-one days before the public meeting.

(c) Nominees to the board shall be:

Membership on the resident advisory board shall not be a requirement for nomination."

SECTION 3. Section 201G-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding three new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

""Active resident association" means an association of low rent public housing residents in a state or federal project assisted by the corporation that has held elections according to its by-laws and that has held not less than four association meetings in the preceding twelve months; provided that the meeting requirement shall not apply where the election occurred within six months of receiving the corporation's notice of vacancies for resident advisory board members as set forth in section 201G-   .

"Public housing resident" means any person who resides in state or federal low rent housing assisted by the corporation, as authorized by chapter 201G, who is eighteen years or older, and whose name appears on the lease agreement.

"Tenant-based Section 8 recipient" means any recipient of tenant-based housing assistance authorized by the United States Department of Housing and Urban development and administered by the corporation."

SECTION 4. Section 201G-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§201G-3 Board; establishment, functions, duties. (a) There is created a board consisting of [nine] eleven members, of whom [six] eight shall be public members appointed by the governor as provided in section 26-34. Public members shall be appointed from each of the counties of Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai. One public member shall be the chairperson of the rental housing trust fund advisory commission. Two public members shall reside in federal low rent public housing or federal Section 8 tenant-based housing assisted by the corporation. The public members of the board shall serve four-year staggered terms[; provided that the initial appointments shall be as follows: two members to be appointed for four years; two members to be appointed for three years; and one member to be appointed for two years]. The chairperson of the rental housing trust fund advisory commission shall serve a concurrent term on the board. The director of business, economic development, and tourism and the director of human services, or their designated representatives, and a representative of the governor's office, shall be ex officio voting members. The corporation shall be headed by the board.

(b) The board of directors shall select a chairperson and vice-chairperson from among its members. The director of business, economic development, and tourism or the director of human services, and the representative of the governor's office shall be ineligible to serve as chairperson of the board.

(c) [Five] Six members shall constitute a quorum, whose affirmative vote shall be necessary for all actions by the corporation. The members shall receive no compensation for services, but shall be entitled to necessary expenses, including travel expenses, incurred in the performance of their duties."

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.