STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1562

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2017

RE:   S.B. No. 1227

      H.D. 2

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 1227, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FORECLOSURES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make permanent the requirement that an attorney acting on behalf of a mortgagee who is seeking to foreclose on a residential property under a judicial foreclosure action shall file an affirmation pursuant to a prescribed form and under penalty of perjury that the attorney has verified all relevant documents and the mortgagee has standing to foreclose.

The Office of Consumer Protection of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs testified in support of the measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Extending the repeal date for the attorney's affirmation requirement from 2017 to 2022 instead of making it permanent; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1227, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1227, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

____________________________

SCOTT Y. NISHIMOTO, Chair