STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1588

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: S.B. No. 1352

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 1352, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to temporarily:

(1) Amend the definition of "historic property" used in the State's Historic Preservation Program to mean certain structures or sites over one hundred years old, rather than fifty years old; and

(2) Allow the Department of Land and Natural Resources to contract its review of proposed state projects, projects on privately owned historic property, and projects affecting historic properties to third-party consultants if the Department is unable to complete a timely review, subject to certain conditions.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, Hawai‘i Association of REALTORS, and NAIOP Hawaii. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that the preservation of the historic and cultural heritage of the State is in the public interest. However, your Committee further finds that the existing process for reviewing projects has faced a severe backlog, and the amended process proposed by this measure would alleviate that backlog by allowing a third-party consultant to complete timely reviews when the State Historic Preservation Division is unable to do so.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Further amending the definition of "historic property" and adding a definition for "affordable housing";

(2) Specifying that the Department of Land and Natural Resources' authority to contract its historic reviews to third-party consultants applies only to projects undertaken to provide affordable housing and is conditioned upon the project proponent paying the Department the funds needed to contract the third-party consultant; and

(3) 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 Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1352, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1352, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

LINDA ICHIYAMA, Chair