STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2374

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2812

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Housing and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2812 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BONDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Specify that allocation of the state bond ceiling to the State shall be used entirely for housing related projects;

(2) Require that if a county elects to receive their allocation, it shall do so by resolution and specify the amount requested;

(3) Remove the authorizations for counties or issuers to request additional allocations of the state bond ceiling;

(4) Prioritize projects of counties that assign their allocation back to the State over projects of counties with their own private activity bond issuance program;

(5) Require counties or issuers that retain their allocation to submit quarterly reports on the status or use of any allocation;

(6) Require a project to first apply to the county in which the project is located, if the county has a private activity bond issuance program, before applying to the State; and

(7) Change the dates for reverted or remaining allocations and requires certain reverted or remaining allocations to be sued for housing related projects.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation; Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu; EAH Housing; Mutual Housing Association of Hawai‘i, Inc.; and Schatz Collaborative, LLC. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that the State is in desperate need of affordable housing. Greater access to private activity bond financing provides a tool through which the State can increase the production of affordable housing. This measure supports the issuance of private activity bonds for affordable housing projects by amending the processes governing the issuance of private activity bonds to counties and prioritizing private activity bonds for state housing projects.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Removing a requirement that counties request to receive bond allocation through resolution;

(2) Clarifying the process through which a county or other issuer shall submit reports to the Department of Budget and Finance;

(3) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(4) 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 Housing and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2812, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2812, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Housing and Government Operations,

________________________________ SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair

________________________________ STANLEY CHANG, Chair