Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2464 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow the owner of property to request a tenant, who is the victim of domestic violence, to provide proof that the victim is taking appropriate action by reporting the violence to the authorities.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission (HCRC), Hawaii Women Lawyers, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, and Blueprint for Change.

This measure is intended to assist a landlord who has a tenant who is the victim of domestic violence. The landlord would be allowed to request the victim to mitigate the domestic violence. The measure is silent on evicting the tenant, but the implication is that the landlord could be laying the groundwork for an eventual eviction. Your Committee finds this proposition to be disturbing.

A common situation in real estate rentals is victims of domestic violence losing their housing because of an incidence of domestic violence. When this happens, a victim of domestic violence loses the basic necessity of shelter and becomes victimized a second time. This makes the victim even more dependent upon the perpetrator of the violence for shelter.

Your Committee further finds that the victim of domestic violence deserves to have rights protected as well as that of the landlord.

Your Committee has amended this measure on the recommendation of the HCRC by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2464, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2464, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.