STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1664

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1950

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 2

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 1950, H.D. 1, 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 amend the provisions of section 201H-38(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), that exempt certain government housing development projects from planning, zoning, and construction standards by:

     (1)  Providing county legislative bodies with the flexibility and authority to approve a project with or without modification; and

     (2)  Increasing the window for county legislative body project approvals and disapprovals and Land Use Commission land use boundary approvals and disapprovals from forty-five days to an unspecified amount of time.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Maui County Council and Community Planning and Engineering.  Written comments in opposition to this measure was received from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, the Department of Community Services of the City and County of Honolulu, the Kaua‘i County Housing Agency, and the Office of Housing and Community Development of the County of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that in 2006, the Legislature, through Act 217, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006 (Act 217), allowed counties to approve certain types of housing projects with or without modifications through an expedited process.  However, that same year, Act 180, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006, repealed the State's housing laws and re-codified a portion of it in chapter 201H, HRS.  The intent of the Legislature was to include the provisions of Act 217 in the re-codification of Hawaii's housing laws.

     Your Committee also finds that the current forty-five day time period in which a county legislative body and the Land Use Commission must conduct due diligence and approve a project is too short to allow for meaningful discussion. 

     This measure will accomplish the intent of Act 217 and will also allow the counties and the Land Use Commission more time to review expedited projects under section 201H-38(a), HRS.

     Your Committee has amended this measure to add a definition of "eligible project" to section 201H-1, HRS, and has repealed the definition of "eligible project" in section 201H-122, HRS.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1950, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1950, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Affordable Housing,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair