STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1758

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 668

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 668, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Condition the authority of a county whose population is greater than five hundred thousand to exercise state housing powers upon the county's continued compliance with provisions regarding accepting dedication of infrastructure and public highways in affordable housing developments; and

(2) Amend various provisions relating to the dedication of infrastructure to a county.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation.

Your Committee finds that this measure is intended to facilitate the acceptance of the dedication of infrastructure and public highways by the City and County of Honolulu, including those of the Villages of Kapolei master planned community. Your Committee recognizes that the infrastructure improvements of the Villages of Kapolei were constructed in accordance with Act 15, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998 (Act 15), which created exemptions from various zoning and subdivision laws to expedite the development of affordable housing, and notes that the City and County of Honolulu has a duty to accept dedication of public infrastructure constructed in accordance with all relevant codes and ordinances at the time of commencement of construction. Your Committee further finds that while the City and County of Honolulu has collected real property tax revenues from the Villages of Kapolei for the past thirty years, its delay in acceptance of the infrastructure has saddled the State with an annual average cost of $1,000,000 for the maintenance of these infrastructure improvements. Therefore, this measure facilitates the dedication of additional infrastructure improvements to a county by amending statutory language relating to the automatic dedication of certain infrastructure improvements to a county under certain conditions.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 668, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair