STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2934

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 755

       H.D. 3

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 755, H.D. 3, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to streamline the public housing eviction process by conforming procedural requirements to federal law.  Specifically, this measure:

     (1)  Changes the notification and eviction hearings process for tenants who face eviction; and

     (2)  Decreases the minimum member requirement for the eviction board from three members to one member, with a maximum of three members.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority of the Department of Human Services and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that this measure would assist the Hawaii Public Housing Authority in streamlining the eviction procedures that are utilized to remove lease violators from federal low income public housing administered by the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.

     Your Committee also finds that this measure, as currently drafted, retains language regarding tenants' rights to request a grievance hearing.  This language is unnecessary as it is already provided and protected by federal regulations and chapter 17-2021, Hawaii Administrative Rules.

     Your Committee further finds that this measure, as currently drafted, and under the current statutory framework, requires the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to fly the hearing officer and hearing assistant to neighbor islands to conduct hearings before the Maui, Kauai, Hilo, and Kona eviction boards.  In light of budget reductions by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, deleting this language could allow the Authority to study the feasibility of an Oahu-based videoconferencing option for conducting hearings on neighbor islands, which could result in a potential savings of $13,000 to $19,000 per year.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting language in section 356D-92, Hawaii Revised Statutes, regarding notice of a tenants' rights to request a grievance hearing; and

     (2)  Deleting language requiring that at least one eviction board be established in each county of the State.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 755, H.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 755, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair