STAND. COM. REP. NO. 216

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1227

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1227 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FORECLOSURES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make permanent the affirmation requirement and form that is filed by an attorney on behalf of a mortgagee who is seeking to foreclose on a residential property under a judicial foreclosure action.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Consumer Protection of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

 

     Your Committee finds that, during the height of the foreclosure crisis, numerous distressed homeowners reported to government authorities, including the Office of Consumer Protection and the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General, that their financial institutions were initiating foreclosure actions without a sufficient basis.  Among the more egregious claims were reports that financial institutions were engaging in robo-signing, in which banks supported foreclosure actions through the use of false affidavits signed by bank employees.  In response, the Legislature enacted Act 182, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, which, among other things, requires a foreclosing party's attorney to affirm that the attorney has personally reviewed the documents and records associated with a foreclosure action, confirm the factual accuracy of the complaint allegations, and state that the attorney does not believe there are any false statements of fact or law and that the plaintiff has legal standing to bring the foreclosure action.

 

     Your Committee further finds that although the frequency of robo-signing appears to have recently diminished, statutory safeguards such as the attorney affirmation will help deter such conduct from reoccurring in Hawaii.  Accordingly, this measure makes permanent the attorney affirmation requirement and form that must be filed by an attorney on behalf of a mortgagee who is seeking to foreclose on a residential property in a judicial foreclosure action.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1227 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

 

 

 

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair