STAND. COM. REP. NO.  887

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2021

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1376

      H.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1376, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE LANDLORD-TENANT CODE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to provide a balanced, fair procedure for landlords and tenants to seek rental assistance and mediate and negotiate a resolution before a landlord evicts a tenant.  Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Extends the period for a notice of summary possession from five days to fifteen days;

 

     (2)  Requires landlords to enter into mediation and delays when a landlord may seek possession of a dwelling unit if the tenant schedules or attempts to schedule mediation;

 

     (3)  Requires landlords to provide the notice to mediation centers that offer free mediation for residential landlord-tenant disputes;

 

     (4)  Restricts when a landlord may exercise these remedies depending on the amount of rent due;

     (5)  Appropriates funds for the Judiciary to contract for mediation services; and

 

     (6)  Repeals one year after the expiration date of the final eviction moratorium imposed pursuant to a COVID-19 State of Emergency Proclamation.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Hawaii Association of REALTORS, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, and two individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary, Catholic Charities Hawaii, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, and Medical-Legal Partnership Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the appropriation to the Judiciary for mediation services to unspecified amounts; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1376, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1376, H.D. 2.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair