Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 593 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to assign the encroachment tolerance of the classified property to the encroaching unclassified property, when the unclassified property is owned or leased in common by an owner's association.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by a concerned individual.

Your Committee finds that sometimes walls, rooflines, or other structures on one property intrude onto a neighboring property. The law provides some flexibility in these situations, by allowing these encroaching structures to remain in place so long as they do not intrude more than a "de minimus" amount into the next property. The number of feet set by law for these de minimus structure position discrepancies (DSPDs) is set according to the type of property that the structure is on. For example, if the property is commercial, then structures on that property may encroach, or intrude on the neighboring property up to .25 feet. If the property is residential, the DSPD is no more than .5 feet.

Your Committee finds that there are instances where the character of certain properties, in particular lots owned or leased by condominiums and other types of owners' associations, are not readily determinable, making it difficult to ascertain which tolerance applies. This bill attempts to assist these associations and their neighbors to avoid litigation by providing that the DSPD that applies to that difficult-to-classify association property, is the DSPD that applies to the neighboring property.

It is your Committee's understanding that the interested parties are currently working on a compromise amenable to all involved. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion of this matter.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 593, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 593, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.