STAND. COM. REP. NO. 743

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 477

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 477, S.D. 1, 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 appropriate moneys to improve the quality of existing public housing stock in the State.   

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Hawaii Primary Care Association, and one individual.  Your Committee received written comments on this measure from one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, the only statewide public housing agency of the State, has a portfolio of eighty-five properties that comprises 6,195 units that serve over 6,100 families or more than 18,500 individuals.  Your Committee believes that additional funding is needed to modernize units to correct health and safety issues and invest in accessibility and accommodation improvements.  Your Committee further finds that this appropriation will support the plans, design, construction, and equipment to develop, upgrade, or renovate public housing facilities. 

     Your Committee finds that general obligation bonds are a more appropriate source of funding.  Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the means of financing from general funds to authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds and using the revenues from those bonds to fund public housing improvements;

     (2)  Changing the appropriation amount to an unspecified sum; and

     (3)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure. 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 477, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 477, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair