STAND. COM. REP. NO. 5-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1840

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1840 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DISTRICT BOUNDARY AMENDMENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize an appropriate county land use decision-making authority to determine district boundary amendments involving land areas over fifteen acres but less than or equal to fifty acres if the county has adopted an ordinance that meets certain requirements.

Prior to the hearing on this measure, your Committee posted and made available for public review a proposed H.D. 1, which adds the requirement that the district boundary amendment is necessary to produce housing, sixty percent of which must be reserved for occupants whose incomes do not exceed one hundred forty percent of the area median income.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the proposed H.D. 1 from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Planning Department of Hawaii County, and Hawai‘i Association of REALTORS. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to the proposed H.D. 1 from the Land Use Commission, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, and Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action. Your Committee received comments on the proposed H.D. 1 from the Department of Agriculture.

Your Committee finds that the proposed H.D. 1 seeks to address the State's critical need for affordable housing, while also providing greater flexibility to address differences between state land use district classifications and county general plans and community development plans. Your Committee further finds that this flexibility is appropriate in view of the comprehensiveness of the county planning process and extensiveness of community involvement when county plans are updated.

Your Committee has amended this measure by adopting the proposed H.D. 1 and further amending the measure by:

(1) Changing the income cap for the affordable housing requirement to eighty percent of the area median income;

(2) Prohibiting parceling, defined as the subdivision of lands greater than twenty-five acres into two or more parcels, more than one of which is then proposed for reclassification within a ten-year period from the date of the subdivision;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purpose of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee respectfully urges your Committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Finance, should they choose to hear this measure, to seek an explanation from the counties on how they can meet the requirements of due process and contested case hearings, as noted in the testimony of the Land Use Commission.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1840, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1840, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair