STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1227

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1311

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Housing and Water and Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1311, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Remove the construction completion deadline for the Leialii affordable housing project and Keawe Street apartments; and

(2) Allow the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to address chapter 6E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to history preservation, when funding is appropriated for each portion of the Leialii affordable housing project.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of the Mayor of Maui County, one member of the Maui County Council, and one individual. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Kūpuna for the Mo‘opuna.

Your Committees find that there is a severe shortage of affordable rental housing in the county of Maui, particularly in the western part of the island. To remedy this problem, the Legislature appropriated funds to expedite and complete the Leialii affordable housing and the Keawe Street apartments housing projects, with the mandate that the projects be completed by 2022. However, in 2020 the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources notified the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation that it would require a new archaeological inventory survey for the entire Leialii and Keawe Street projects. Despite discussions between the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, the State Historical Preservation Division, and the Office of the Governor, no agreement could be reached, and a new archaeological inventory survey must be performed. In light of this new requirement, your Committees find the 2022 completion deadline imposed by the Legislature cannot be met. This measure will extend the deadline imposed by the Legislature and allow the housing projects to go forward to provide much-needed homes for Maui residents.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Eliminating the provision stating that Leialii affordable housing project shall comply with chapter 6E, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to historic preservation, as the existing phased review process by the State Historic Preservation Division is more appropriate;

(2) Inserting language from the companion to this measure, S.B. No. 607, S.D. 3, which was previously passed by the Senate, clarifying that the developer of the Keawe Street apartments housing project shall be responsible for all costs associated with the archaeological inventory survey for the footprint of their portion of the project but not for the costs of the survey for the entire master planned community; 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 Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1311, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1311, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary.

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

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ STANLEY CHANG, Chair