STAND. COM. REP. NO.  44

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

 

RE:   H.B. No. 357

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 357 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to knock down government barriers to building more affordable housing by clarifying the authority of counties and state planning agencies to hire third parties to handle permits and review approvals and to limit the liability of these third-party reviewers.

 

     The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Housing Hawaii, EAH Housing, the Hawaii Developers' Council, The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, and the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii supported this bill.  The Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation supported the intent of this measure.  The Affordable Housing Regulatory Barriers Task Force supported this bill with amendments.  The Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii opposed this measure.

 

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

 

(1)  Removing the provision allowing the State or a county to contract with third-party reviewers only when there is a need for services to review affordable housing development project and permit applications and the estimated time necessary with current staff to complete the reviews is longer than 45 days from the time the project or permit application was submitted to the State or a county;

 

(2)  Including gross negligence as one of the instances where third-party reviewers are not immune from liability when providing services to the State or a county;

 

(3)  Deleting language limiting the application of this bill only to instances where reviews are not currently conducted by civil service employees, to allow situations where reviews are conducted by both civil service employees and third-party reviewers; and

 

(4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, 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 H.B. No. 357, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 357, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Labor & Public Employment.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

RIDA CABANILLA, Chair