STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 612-24
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2024
RE: H.B. No. 2358
H.D. 1
Honorable Scott K. Saiki
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2024
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Housing and Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 2358 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS,"
beg leave to report as follows:
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; NAIOP; Stanford Carr Development, LLC; and Building Industry Association of Hawaii. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i and nine individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Advisory Council.
Your Committees find that there is a substantial need for affordable housing in the State. Lengthy regulatory and entitlement processes delay and add unnecessary costs to the development of affordable housing projects, often making them unfeasible. This measure streamlines the regulatory process for qualified affordable housing projects by exempting certain affordable housing projects from environmental impact statement requirements.
Your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Deleting language that would have exempted from environmental impact statement requirements the construction of a new affordable housing project located within the state agricultural land use district that is fifteen acres or less, contiguous with a parcel that has a state urban land use district classification, and not designated as important agricultural lands;
(2) Clarifying that the exemptions under this measure apply to a new affordable housing project that is consistent with existing county zoning classifications that allow housing;
(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and
(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Housing and Energy & Environmental Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2358, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2358, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Housing and Energy & Environmental Protection,
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____________________________ NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair |
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____________________________ LUKE A. EVSLIN, Chair |