STAND. COM. REP. NO. 464-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1749

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 1749 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the Supportive Housing Task Force to improve data collection on supportive housing needs in the State; and

(2) Appropriate funds for the task force.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, EAH Housing, Hawaii Community Foundation, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, Partners In Care, Catholic Charities Hawai‘i, and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, Department of Human Services, Department of Budget and Finance, Office of Information Practices, Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission, and Common Cause Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that Act 39, Session Laws of Hawaii 2018, directed the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to conduct a study of the housing waitlists in the State and each county to, among other things, quantify the need for housing among individuals with access and functional needs and identify supportive services that these individuals require. The Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation found that 37,031 individuals with access and functional needs were reported to be in need of housing.

Your Committee further finds that affordable housing is but one area in which individuals with access and functional needs require support. For many of these individuals, access to housing goes hand in hand with access to intensive coordinated services and appropriate care for the individual in order for the individual to maintain stable housing. Your also Committee finds that a supportive housing task force will enable housing, human services, health, and other stakeholders to collectively address the need for housing and coordinated services for individuals with access and functional needs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the composition of the Supportive Housing Task Force to include the Executive Directors of Partners In Care and Bridging the Gap Hawaii, and enabling all task force members to select designees to serve in their absence;

(2) Removing as unnecessary language exempting task force members from the financial interests disclosure requirements under the State Ethics Code, as the State Ethics Commission's longstanding practice is to exclude activities of task force members from the general provisions of the Code;

(3) Exempting the task force from the Sunshine Law, rather than the entirety of the State's law governing public agency meetings and records;

(4) Specifying that the appropriation in this measure includes funds for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) planner or specialist position;

(5) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(6) 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 Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1749, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1749, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

NADINE K. NAKAMURA, Chair