STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1024-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1840

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1840, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize the appropriate county land use decision-making authority to determine district boundary amendments involving land areas over fifteen acres but equal to or less than fifty acres according to a process to be determined by each county and subject to certain conditions, including the condition that the district boundary amendment is necessary to produce housing, sixty percent of which shall be reserved for occupants whose incomes do not exceed eighty percent of the area median income; and

(2) Prohibit the subdivision of such lands into two or more parcels to be reclassified within a ten-year period from the date of the subdivision.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Mayor of the County of Maui, County of Maui Department of Planning, County of Hawai‘i Planning Department, and Building Industry Association of Hawaii. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one member of the Hawai‘i County Council, Land Use Commission, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Farm Bureau, Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action, and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture, County of Hawai‘i Office of the Corporation Counsel, City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, and Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing the contested case hearing exemption for final action on an application for a district boundary amendment;

(2) Requiring that all district boundary amendments involving land areas greater than fifteen acres and equal to or less than fifty acres, processed by a county decision-making authority are subject to review and approval by the Land Use Commission;

(3) Specifying that the Land Use Commission may impose additional restrictions in its approval of district boundary amendments by a county decision-making authority;

(4) Specifying the Land Use Commission's parameters in its review of district boundary amendments; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1840, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1840, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair