STAND. COM. REP. NO.  627-20

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2020

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1878

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1878 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO REAL PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to require that mandatory seller disclosures in residential real property transactions identify property within the sea level rise exposure area, as officially designated by the relevant county.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Youth Climate Coalition, IMUAlliance, and seven individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; Office of Economic Development of the County of Maui; Office of Economic Development of the County of Kauai; Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency of the City and County of Honolulu; Department of Research and Development of the County of Hawaii; Sierra Club of Hawaii; and Hawaii Association of REALTORS.

 

     Your Committee finds that a property's vulnerability to sea level rise is a material fact for the purposes of mandatory disclosures of residential property sales, as it would be expected to measurably affect the value of the property.  Your Committee further finds that it is critical for buyers to understand the hazards and risks they are assuming when purchasing oceanfront property, in the spirit of transparency and disclosure and to support informed decision making by buyers and government agencies.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Requiring the Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission or its successor to designate the sea level rise exposure area, rather than the individual counties;

 

     (2)  Allowing the use of State-produced and adopted SLR-XA maps as an alternative until maps provided by the counties that designate the sea level rise exposure area are available; and

 

     (3)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1878, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1878, H.D. 1.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

ROY M. TAKUMI, Chair