STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1008

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 888

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 888, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISPOSITION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY ON PUBLIC HOUSING PROPERTIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a process whereby the Hawaii Public Housing Authority may dispose of abandoned or seized property that it has acquired on state low-income housing projects.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority.

     Your Committees find that currently, when a tenant vacates the Hawaii Public Housing Authority's state low-income public housing developments, section 356D-56, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires that the Authority retain possession of such personal articles for a period of four months after termination of occupancy prior to disposing of them at auction.  While the statute authorizes the Authority to place a lien on the personal property and to recover fees relating to storage and re-possession of the articles by the former tenant, costs incurred by this process far outweigh any benefits to the public because often times such personal property is of little value.

     Your Committees further find that H.B. No. 888 (Regular Session of 2013), as introduced, takes into account the realities of the situation regarding abandoned or seized property at state public housing projects.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting language from H.B. No. 888, as introduced, which provides a more streamlined process by which the Authority may dispose of abandoned or seized property that it has acquired on state public housing projects, and have an effective date of upon approval, and further amending the measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 888, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 888, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair