STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1350-22

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2022

 

RE:   S.B. No. 3247

      S.D. 2

      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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3247, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to develop a strategic plan to meet applicant preferences:

 

     (1)  For a single-family home or vacant lot for a house; and

 

     (2)  To rent or rent-to-own a single-family home, duplex, apartment, or townhouse, with the option to buy in the future.

 

     Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

 

Your Committee finds that in 2019, approximately 28,500 native Hawaiian adults were on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands application waiting list for residential, farming, or ranching homesteads.  The homelessness crisis in Hawaii is already serious, and the waiting list backlog exacerbates this crisis that disproportionately affects native Hawaiians.  Your Committee finds that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' 2020 Beneficiaries Study Applicant Report indicates that seventy-six percent of applicants on the Department's waiting list preferred a lot with a single-family home or vacant lot for a house, while sixteen percent preferred a rental apartment, duplex, or townhouse, with the option to buy.  This measure recognizes the housing preferences of native Hawaiian applicants on the waiting list for homestead leases by requiring the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to develop a strategic plan to meet certain housing preferences of its beneficiaries on the waiting list.

 

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to January 1, 2222, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3247, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3247, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair