STAND. COM. REP. NO. 138

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 31

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 31 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROPERTY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Allow a person who discovers a recorded discriminatory restrictive covenant to take certain actions without liability, to invalidate the covenant; and 

 

     (2)  Define discriminatory restrictive covenant.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Civil Rights Commission.

 

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii's people have the right to live in safe housing environments that are free from discrimination.  However, certain restrictive covenants may include provisions that discriminate against prospective residents based on a protected class.  Therefore, this measure expands protections from discrimination for Hawaii's people.

 

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding to the definition of discriminatory restrictive covenant language that, if enforced, would violate the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of race, sex, including gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, color, religion, marital status, familial status, ancestry, disability, age, or human immunodeficiency virus infection; and

 

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

 

     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. 31, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 31, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Judiciary.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

STANLEY CHANG, Chair