SB2967

SECTION 1. The legislature recognizes that Hawaii is experiencing a severe affordable housing crisis with a lack of affordable rental and for-sale units. According to the 2018 affordable rental housing report and ten-year plan, Hawaii will need an additional 64,693 housing units by 2025 with nearly seventy per cent of those units for low-income households earning eighty per cent or less of the area median income.

In 2016, the legislature established the goal of developing 22,500 affordable rental units by the end of 2026. Achieving this goal will require a variety of approaches, including targeted exemptions of requirements that provide little to no benefit to residents. One example is the potential future requirement to provide electric vehicle charging stations or make certain parking stalls ready for the future installation of electric vehicle charging stations.

The legislature finds that nationwide, seventy per cent of electric vehicle owners have an income of more than $100,000 per year, which is an income level that exceeds the requirements of a family of four to qualify for the purchase of most affordable housing units. The legislature believes that since the residents of affordable housing in Hawaii are unlikely to own an electric vehicle, one cost-effective measure to control housing costs is to exempt the construction of affordable housing from future electric vehicle charging station requirements. Affordable housing unit purchasers will be better off with a lower purchase cost than access to an electric vehicle charging station they will probably never use.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to exempt Hawaii housing finance and development corporation housing projects from any requirement to construct electric vehicle charging stations or infrastructure for the future construction of electric vehicle charging stations.

SECTION 2. Section 201H-38, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The corporation may develop on behalf of the State or with an eligible developer, or may assist under a government assistance program in the development of, housing projects that shall be exempt from all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions, and rules of any government agency relating to planning, zoning, construction standards for subdivisions, development and improvement of land, [an] the construction of dwelling units thereon[;], and the construction of electric vehicle charging stations or related infrastructure thereon; provided that:

(1) The corporation finds the housing project is consistent with the purpose and intent of this chapter, and meets minimum requirements of health and safety;

(2) The development of the proposed housing project does not contravene any safety standards, tariffs, or rates and fees approved by the public utilities commission for public utilities or of the various boards of water supply authorized under chapter 54;

(3) The legislative body of the county in which the housing project is to be situated shall have approved the project with or without modifications:

(A) The legislative body shall approve, approve with modification, or disapprove the project by resolution within forty-five days after the corporation has submitted the preliminary plans and specifications for the project to the legislative body. If on the forty-sixth day a project is not disapproved, it shall be deemed approved by the legislative body;

(B) No action shall be prosecuted or maintained against any county, its officials, or employees on account of actions taken by them in reviewing, approving, modifying, or disapproving the plans and specifications; and

(C) The final plans and specifications for the project shall be deemed approved by the legislative body if the final plans and specifications do not substantially deviate from the preliminary plans and specifications. The final plans and specifications for the project shall constitute the zoning, building, construction, and subdivision standards for that project. For purposes of sections 501-85 and 502-17, the executive director of the corporation or the responsible county official may certify maps and plans of lands connected with the project as having complied with applicable laws and ordinances relating to consolidation and subdivision of lands, and the maps and plans shall be accepted for registration or recordation by the land court and registrar; and

(4) The land use commission shall approve, approve with modification, or disapprove a boundary change within forty-five days after the corporation has submitted a petition to the commission as provided in section 205‑4. If, on the forty-sixth day, the petition is not disapproved, it shall be deemed approved by the commission."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2967
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII