STAND. COM. REP. NO. 989

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 768

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 768, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to expand the Hawaii Public Housing Authority's power to dispose of property seized, abandoned, or remaining upon eviction in and at public housing projects, elder or elderly housing, or state low-income housing projects.

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

     Your Committees find that the Hawaii Public Housing Authority is limited to removing abandoned or seized personal property at state low-income housing projects and may only do so in federal low-income public housing after an eviction.  This measure allows the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to better manage the upkeep and turnover of its units by eliminating abandoned and unwanted property in an expeditious manner.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the Hawaii Public Housing Authority to send notice by certified mail at least five, rather than ten calendar days prior to disposition of the abandoned or seized property; and

     (2)  Amending the minimum storage fee that must be paid to repossess abandoned or seized property from $5 per day to $25 per day.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 768, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 768, 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 Housing and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair