STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1582

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1303

H.D. 2

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1303, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to implement various strategies to provide more affordable housing in the State.

Specifically, this bill:

(1) Prohibits the raiding of housing special funds;

(2) Establishes a general excise tax exemption for proceeds received in connection with the development of affordable housing projects;

(3) Dedicates twenty-five per cent of general excise taxes imposed on residential rentals to the rental housing trust fund (Fund);

(4) Requires the membership of the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii Board of Directors to include a representative of the continuum of care systems;

(5) Establishes deadlines for the repair of vacant public housing and the construction of new public housing;

(6) Exempts from Land Use Commission approval affordable housing projects of fifty acres or less;

(7) Changes the standard for an affordable housing project from one that requires the project to be primarily designed for lower income persons to one that requires the project to provide a certain percentage of lower income housing units;

(8) Permits the dwelling unit revolving fund to be used for permanent financing, in addition to interim financing;

(9) Repeals specific numerical requirements for Fund projects relating to the minimum amount of units that must be provided for households within certain income groups;

(10) Permits nonprofit entities to qualify for Fund loans;

(11) Allows use of Fund financing for mixed finance public housing developments;

(12) Increases the Fund's share of conveyance taxes from twenty-five per cent to fifty per cent;

(13) Abolishes the Rental Housing Trust Fund Advisory Commission to avoid duplication in the review process for housing development applications;

(14) Authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds for the renovation, repair, and construction of low-income housing units;

(15) Requires Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii to convene a committee to consider the bifurcation of the agency into separate public housing and housing finance and development entities, and appropriates funds for the committee; and

(16) Takes effect on July 1, 2050.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Deleting sections 2 and 3 of the bill that prohibit the lapsing or transfer of certain housing special funds to the general fund;

(2) Deleting section 4 of the bill that:

(A) Grants an exemption from the general excise tax of proceeds received in developing affordable housing; and

(B) Dedicates twenty-five per cent of general excise taxes paid for the rental of residential rental dwellings, other than transient accommodations, to the rental housing trust fund;

(3) Deleting the conforming provision in section 10 of the bill amending section 201G-432, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that allows for deposit of the dedicated general excise tax revenues into the rental housing trust fund;

(4) Deleting the conforming section 14 of the bill amending section 237-31, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that provides for deposit of the dedicated general excise tax revenues into the rental housing trust fund;

(5) Re-numbering the remaining sections of the bill accordingly; and

(6) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, style, and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1303, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1303, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair