STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1671

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 469

       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 Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 469, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REAL PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to eliminate discrimination against victims of domestic violence in real estate transactions.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission; Voices, the Formerly Battered Women's Caucus of Hawai‘i; the Board of the Hawai‘i Women Lawyers; and the Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i.  The Hawaii Association of Realtors (HAR) provided comments.  The Community Associations Institute Hawaii Chapter and the Hawaii Council of Associations of Apartment Owners testified in opposition to the measure.  The National Association of Real Property Managers concurred with the testimony of the HAR, and added comments.

     The Civil Rights Commission proposed that this measure be amended by adding a new section within chapter 521, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to prohibit a landlord from evicting a tenant based on an incident of domestic violence when the tenant obtains a restraining order or calls the police to prevent future incidents.  Your Committee notes that every incident of alleged discrimination cited by the Legal Aid Society involved a landlord and a tenant, rather than a sale or purchase of real property.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Amending section 521-74, Hawaii Revised Statutes, retaliatory evictions and rent increases prohibited, by adding a new subsection that prohibits a landlord from instituting court proceedings to recover possession of the dwelling unit or otherwise causing the tenant to quit the dwelling unit involuntarily solely because of the tenant's status as a victim of domestic violence; and

(2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive revisions for clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 469, 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. 469, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair