STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2186

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2007

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2007 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HOUSELESS BILL OF RIGHTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to define specific rights granted to a person who is houseless, including equal access to housing, jobs, and shelters, equal treatment by government agencies, and access to life-sustaining activities and essential services.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, Department of the Attorney General, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that no person's rights, privileges, or access to public services should be denied solely because that person is houseless, and a houseless individual should be granted the same rights as any other person. Houseless persons often experience discrimination based on their appearance or lack of permanent address, and this measure seeks to protect their basic human rights.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adopting the language suggested by the Department of the Attorney General that:

(A) Removes language that would have conferred the right to a reasonable expectation of privacy in personal property to the same extent as personal property in a permanent residence, to avoid the interpretation of conferring additional legal rights to houseless persons that are not conferred to other citizens of the State, or of interference with law enforcement efforts;

(B) Removes language that would have entitled a houseless person to an equal opportunity to have access to public hygiene facilities and live in decent accommodations, to avoid a possible interpretation that the State is obligated to provide housing for everyone;

(C) Clarifies that under the right to maintain access to services essential to survival, law enforcement activities and efforts to promote health, safety, and welfare are not included as actions by the State and counties, rather than actions by only the State, to appropriately exclude county actions that are necessary to ensure public safety; and

(D) Adds language to clarify that the houseless bill of rights shall not be interpreted to create new legal rights for houseless persons, but is intended to ensure that a houseless person is not discriminated against due to housing status; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2007, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2007, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair