STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2243

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2904

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2904 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Amend emergency management law to protect tenants, mortgagors, consumers, and residents for certain periods of time after the issuance of a gubernatorial or mayoral emergency proclamation; and

(2) Classify violations as unfair methods of competition and unfair and deceptive acts or practices.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Authority, Hawaii Association for Justice, Lahaina Strong, Hawaii Financial Services, and sixty-nine individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Credit Union League and one individual.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' Office of Consumer Protection, Hawaiʻi Association of REALTORS, and Hawaii Bankers Association.

Your Committees find that Hawaii has the highest cost of living and the most unaffordable housing market in the United States. Your Committees further find that disasters, like the 2023 Maui wildfires, have shown the absence of legislative safety nets for renters, mortgagors, and tenants relating to housing. This measure will create protections that offer immediate relief to individuals, families, and small businesses struggling with rental payments and mortgages due to declared disasters.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the Governor and mayors may make certain declarations during an emergency;

(2) Deleting language that would have made any violation of laws enacted to protect tenants, mortgagors, consumers, and residents for certain periods of time after the issuance of a gubernatorial or mayoral emergency proclamation; an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice in trade and commerce; and

(3) 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 Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2904, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2904, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair