STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3910

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1917

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1917, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

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

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate private activity bond allocations and funds from the Rental Housing Revolving Fund to the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation for the purpose of allowing an eligible developer to acquire and rehabilitate the Front Street Apartments affordable housing project on Maui.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Mayor of the County of Maui, one member of the Maui County Council, and Ahe Group.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

 

     Your Committees find that by December 31, 2022, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation shall issue a new ground lease for the Front Street Apartments affordable housing project to an eligible developer, as defined in section 201H-32, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for a term of seventy-five years and a ground lease rent to be determined by the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation Board of Directors.  This measure appropriates funds for that purpose, which will keep and maintain Front Street Apartments as an affordable housing complex.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting legislative findings relating to Act 150, Session Laws of Hawaii 2018 (Act 150);

 

     (2)  Deleting language that would have appropriated private activity bond allocations and funds from the Rental Housing Revolving Fund to the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation for the purpose of allowing an eligible developer to acquire and rehabilitate the Front Street Apartments affordable housing project on Maui;

 

     (3)  Amending Act 150 to allow, rather than require, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to initiate condemnation proceedings unless the Corporation renegotiates an existing, or issues a new, ground lease for the Front Street Apartments affordable housing project before December 31, 2026, rather than December 31, 2021; and

 

     (4)  Inserting an effective date of July 30, 2075, to encourage further discussion; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1917, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1917, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means,

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

 

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair