STAND. COM. REP. NO. 597

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 393

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 Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 393 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE LANDLORD-TENANT CODE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Until December 31, 2024, extend the period in which a tenant must pay past due rent from five business days to fifteen calendar days from the tenant's receipt of a notice of termination of the rental agreement;

(2) Require a landlord to engage in mediation and delay filing an action for summary possession if a tenant schedules or attempts to schedule a mediation;

(3) Require a landlord to include specific information in the fifteen-calendar day notice provided to tenants and certain mediation centers; and

(4) Appropriate moneys for the administration of a pre-litigation mediation program and an emergency rent relief program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

Your Committee finds that the Legislature enacted Act 57, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021 (Act 57), in response to the tens of thousands of Hawaii residents losing their jobs, leaving them unable to pay their rent during the coronavirus-2019 disease pandemic. Act 57 provided protections for tenants who could not pay rent, including extending the period for a notice of termination of the rental agreement from five days to fifteen calendar days; requiring landlords to engage in mediation and delay filing an action for summary possession if a tenant schedules or attempts to schedule a mediation; requiring landlords to provide specific information in the fifteen-calendar day notice to tenants and certain mediation centers; and others. While the procedures created by Act 57 were successful, Act 57 automatically repealed in 2022. This measure makes permanent certain provisions of Act 57.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 393, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 393, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

________________________________

JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair