STAND. COM. REP. NO. 528

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1278

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1278 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ZONING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow the counties to adopt rules for the construction of fourplex dwelling units on lots where single-family dwelling units are permitted in any county with a population of twenty-five thousand or more or within an urban area.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from HI Good Neighbor. Your Committee received comments on this measure from Grassroots Institute of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that the State has a housing crisis. A recent study by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism found that Hawaii will need more than fifty thousand new homes by 2025. The State cannot simply wait for the free market to develop new home projects. Instead, the State must be proactive and look for creative ways to provide housing for its people. This measure will give counties the opportunity to permit the construction of more houses.

Your Committee has amended this measure by removing a provision that would have prevented the State or the counties from prohibiting any construction of fourplexes.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1278, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1278, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

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STANLEY CHANG, Chair