STAND. COM. REP. NO. 352

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 976

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 Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 976 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MIXED-USE RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds and the appropriation of funds for the planning, design, and construction of the Juvenile Services Center portion of the mixed-use project at 902 Alder Street, Honolulu, Oahu.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Judiciary, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, and Catholic Charities Hawai‘i.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

     Your Committees find that there are underutilized parcels of state land in the urban core of Honolulu that could be developed into mixed-use residential projects, providing space for government offices, social services, and affordable housing.  902 Alder Street, Honolulu, Oahu, currently set aside by Executive Order to the Juvenile Court of the First Circuit, is one such parcel.

     Your Committees further find that the Judiciary and Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation have entered into a memorandum of agreement to develop a mixed-use residential project that includes a Juvenile Services Center that would be integrated with an affordable rental housing project for working families at 902 Alder Street.  The workforce housing component of the mixed-use project will provide approximately one hundred eighty units for lower income families.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 976 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Housing and Water and Land,

____________________________ LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair