STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2363

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2270

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2270 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COUNTY ZONING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to confer upon a property owner a private right of action to file suit directly in circuit court to enforce zoning violations on neighboring properties that directly affect them.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Association of REALTORS.

     Your Committee finds that counties may not be able to take action to investigate and enforce every operation that violates county zoning ordinances.  The lack of enforcement of zoning laws imposes a burden on neighboring property owners, which is an unfair imposition on their quality of life.  This measure seeks to improve the application of section 46-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and provide aggrieved property owners with a private right of action to enforce zoning violations in court, without having to wait until relevant issues are resolved by an administrative body first or exhaust administrative remedies first.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2270, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2270, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair