HB463 SD1

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that evictions are costly and disruptive for landlords and residential tenants and may also have severe and long-lasting impacts on residential tenants. Once evicted, tenants must find a new residence, pay moving expenses, suffer damage to their credit scores, and bear other costs, such as rental application fees and security deposits, and even costs borne by the landlord during the eviction process.

The legislature further finds that the simple filing of eviction proceedings against a residential tenant, even when those proceedings are meritless, can create a long-term barrier to access housing because eviction records are created the moment a landlord files a complaint with the court. Thus, even if the court does not find for the landlord or the landlord withdraws the complaint, the eviction filing remains on the tenant's record. Companies that screen residential tenants collect and sell this information and the companies' data collection methods typically include any person named as a defendant in an eviction proceeding. Landlords screen against prospective residential tenants who have had any eviction action initiated against them without regard to outcome. This process disempowers residential tenants who may have legitimate disputes with their landlords because eviction filings can be used to pressure tenants to vacate a residence.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Require the judiciary to conduct a study of its ability and best approaches to disassociate certain parties from eviction cases and the various issues and potential impacts of requiring the court to disassociate a residential tenant from an eviction proceeding brought by a landlord in certain circumstances;

(2) Submit a report to the legislature twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2026; and

(3) Appropriate funds.

SECTION 2. (a) The judiciary shall conduct a study of its ability and best approaches to disassociate a residential tenant from an eviction proceeding brought by a landlord as provided herein, and the various issues and impacts that could result from the disassociations. The study shall include:

(1) The possibility of implementing a feature that would require the judiciary to, within a reasonable amount of time, disassociate a residential tenant from a legal proceeding brought by a landlord to evict the tenant if:

(A) The final resolution of an eviction proceeding does not result in a judgment or possession in favor of the landlord, including instances in which a case was dismissed for any reason;

(B) All parties agree to the disassociation, regardless of the final disposition of the claim; or

(i) The judgment in favor of the landlord is for an amount of $500 or less;

(ii) The residential tenant was evicted from a unit under any low-income federal housing choice voucher program or state low-income rent supplement program;

(iii) The landlord brought an action for summary possession in violation of federal law following an incident pertaining to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking;

(iv) The landlord committed a discriminatory practice under chapter 515, Hawaii Revised Statutes, against the residential tenant and sought to recover possession of the rented premises in response to the residential tenant filing a complaint against unlawful discrimination with the civil rights commission;

(v) The landlord violated section 521-39, 521-74(a), or 521-74.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(vi) The parties entered into a settlement agreement that did not result in the landlord recovering possession of the rented premises; or

(vii) The court determines that there are other grounds justifying the requested relief;

(2) A determination of whether the judiciary information management system can be programmed to complete the disassociations described in paragraph (1);

(3) An assessment of how this programming may impact other system functions and processes, including whether the programming can be designed to differentiate between a residential and commercial summary possession case type;

(4) Additional findings to determine whether a modification to the judiciary information management system would only be applied prospectively and not retroactively; and

(5) Any other issues that the judiciary may deem necessary or relevant to the study.

(b) The judiciary shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2026.

(c) For the purposes of this section, "disassociate" means to remove a residential tenant's name from the judiciary's publicly accessible electronic databases to ensure that the legal proceeding cannot be accessed online by the tenant's name.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 for the judiciary to conduct a study pursuant to section 2 of this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the judiciary for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 3000.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	463
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025		H.D. 3
STATE OF HAWAII		S.D. 1