STAND. COM. REP. NO. 588

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1614

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Housing and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 1614 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish what constitutes transit-oriented development and incentivize development in county-designated transit-oriented development areas or zones; and

(2) Prioritize the allocation of a minimum percentage of the Rental Housing Revolving Fund for certain mixed-income rental housing projects or units.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, Hawaiʻi YIMBY, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Housing Hawaiʻi's Future, and two individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committees find that transit-oriented development, including the construction of high-density communities, can help the State efficiently alleviate existing demand for housing in the State and build more connected communities. Your Committees note that an unspecified percentage of the transit-oriented development areas surrounding a locally-preferred alternative described in this measure are under the Hawaii Community Development Authority jurisdiction.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the development of additional housing in transit-oriented development areas with density increases authorized by this measure to be exclusively for qualified residents as defined in section 201H-32, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(2) Inserting language to require the Hawaii Community Development Authority Board of Directors to adopt certain transit-supportive density requirements;

(3) Clarifying the counties' authority to designate transit‑oriented areas;

(4) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Housing and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1614, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1614, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Housing and Water and Land,

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ STANLEY CHANG, Chair