STAND. COM. REP. 80

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 948

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns, to which was referred H.B. No. 948 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EARNED INCOME DEDUCTION FOR PUBLIC HOUSING RENT CALCULATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to require the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii (HCDCH) to adopt a written policy to deduct 25 percent of a family's earned income when calculating their rent for federal low-income housing.

Under existing law, income-based rent for federal public housing tenants is based on 30 percent of the tenant's adjusted income or 10 percent of annual income. In the case of most working families, the only adjustment from their gross income would be to exclude $40 per month per child.

The end result is that when a family on public assistance pays only 30 percent of its cash benefit for rent in federal low-income housing, the working family finds itself paying almost half of their take-home pay for rent. This measure seeks to address this inequity.

Several representatives from Island Tenants on the Rise, the HCDCH Resident Advisory Board, and many concerned individuals supported this bill.

HCDCH opposed this measure.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Deleting the base of 25 percent and replacing it with an unspecified amount;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2010, and adding the sunset date of June 30, 2012, to facilitate further discussion; and

(3) Making other technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style and clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 948, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 948, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Human Services and Housing.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns,

 

____________________________

BRIAN SCHATZ, Chair