STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2983

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2762

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2762, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RENT CONTROL,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit a landlord from renting or leasing, or offering to rent or lease, a dwelling unit in a rent-controlled county at a rate that exceeds the rate established by resolution adopted by the appropriate county council, subject to certain exceptions.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the Maui County Council, Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, Lāhainā Strong, UNITE HERE Local 5, Kaibigan ng Lāhaina, Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action, and sixty individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaiʻi Association of REALTORS.

Your Committee finds that housing shortages and higher rental prices have risen in the aftermath of the August 2023 Maui wildfires. Your Committee further finds that when a community is impacted by a natural disaster, county councils are especially well-suited to determine whether, and at what rate, a rent ceiling should be established within its local jurisdiction. This measure allows certain counties to establish a rent ceiling through a resolution, which will protect vulnerable communities and advance basic societal interests of the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by clarifying that the penalty for renting or leasing, or offering to rent or lease, a dwelling unit in a rent-controlled county at a rate that exceeds the rate established by resolution adopted by the appropriate county council is a misdemeanor.

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 S.B. No. 2762, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2762, S.D. 2.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair