STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2338

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2417

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Housing and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2417 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide any residential housing project where one hundred percent of the units are affordable to households with income at or below one hundred forty percent of the median family income:

(1) An exemption from any exactions or inclusionary zoning requirements imposed by the State or a county; and

(2) Additional exemptions if the residential housing project is eligible to be developed by the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation pursuant to section 201H-38, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Building Industry Association-Hawaii, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, and Hawai‘i Association of REALTORS. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning.

Your Committees find that the State is experiencing a severe housing crisis. Various government studies confirm the need for upwards of 60,000 new housing units over the next ten years. However, there has been a lack of measurable progress at the county level to enact policies that will stimulate housing production to meet this projected demand. This measure will allow the private sector to increase the supply of workforce housing units priced for the average working family in Hawaii by reducing impediments for housing development projects.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the eligible household income threshold from one hundred forty percent to eighty percent of the median family income;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Housing and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2417, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2417, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Housing and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

________________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair