Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 179, S.D. 1, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to facilitate community input on and county review of proposed affordable housing projects.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the chairperson and three members of the Maui County Council. The Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii (HCDCH), Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu, Department of Community Services of the City and County of Honolulu, Office of Housing and Community Development of the County of Hawaii, and Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation testified in opposition to this measure.

This measure requires HCDCH to hold a public hearing in the community plan area in which an affordable housing project is proposed to be constructed. Additionally, the measure increases from forty-five to seventy days the time period for a county council to consider and approve or disapprove a proposed housing project, but permits the council to act on amendments to the project beyond the seventy-five day deadline.

Your Committees find that requiring a hearing to be held in the affected community plan area would permit those who would most directly be impacted by the project to provide public comment, and would enable the Corporation and developer to consider these comments prior to submitting their application to the counties for review.

Your Committees further find that the current forty-five day timeline for county legislative approval or disapproval does not permit the legislative bodies adequate time to consider an application, a process which involves public meetings and, often, site inspections. This measure would allow the counties additional time to review the application and facilitate a more meaningful review.

Your Committees have amended this measure:

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 179, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 179, S.D. 2.