STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2698

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2948

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 Government Operations and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2948 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Authorize residential uses in areas zoned for commercial to be considered permitted if the residential use is limited by ordinance to floors above the ground floor of a building or structure and development standards are met;

(2) Exempt areas zoned under the Hawaii Community Development Authority; and

(3) Require each county to adopt ordinances that authorize for adaptive reuse of existing commercial buildings in the county's building codes.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, one member of the Kauaʻi County Council, one member of the Maui County Council, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, Housing Hawaiʻi's Future, NAIOP Hawaii, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, Building Owners and Managers Association, Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi, and six individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Disability and Communications Access Board.

Your Committees find that the State is experiencing a chronic housing shortage. One alternative, the reuse of commercial buildings for residential purposes, can make an important contribution to easing the State's housing shortage. As commercial centers of older communities had a mix of commercial and residential uses, reintroducing mixed uses increases the supply of available housing while returning to the historic character of certain communities. This measure offers new opportunities to utilize mixed-use housing while alleviating the State's chronic housing shortage.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the counties to facilitate compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 when adopting an adaptive reuse building code ordinance;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion; 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 Government Operations and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2948, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2948, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Water and Land,

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair