STAND. COM. REP. NO. 592

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 1008

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1008, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HISTORIC PRESERVATION REVIEWS OF STATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to determine the effect of any proposed state affordable housing project on historic property, aviation artifacts, or burial sites within ninety days of a request for determination; and

(2) Base the historic review requirements on the project area's known or likely density of historic, cultural, and archaeological resources or previous identification of no significant historic properties through an archaeological inventory survey.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; Maui Chamber of Commerce; NAIOP Hawaii; and Hawaiʻi Association of REALTORS. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Your Committee finds that delays and backlogs in historic preservation reviews hinder the timely development of affordable housing and contribute to rising costs. This measure accelerates the construction of affordable housing units and reduces expenses by establishing a separate historic review process specifically for certain proposed state affordable housing projects.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing the requirement for an archaeological inventory survey to have been previously reviewed and accepted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources for a proposed project to proceed under an archaeological monitoring program in a moderately sensitive area; 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 Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1008, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1008, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair