STAND. COM. REP. NO. 472-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1776

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1776, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Office of Consumer Protection to periodically publish an accessible, multilingual notice of tenant rights; and

(2) Require a landlord to provide a tenant with a copy of the notice of tenant rights in the tenant's preferred language, if available, upon the signing of a lease.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawaiʻi; Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice; Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!; Hope Services Hawaii; Hawaiʻi Workers Center; and five individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Disability and Communication Access Board.

Your Committee finds that the landlord-tenant laws are self-help laws that put the responsibility on renters to access their rights through private action. Without legal expertise, many renters may struggle to understand their rights as articulated in their lease agreements and under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code. Your Committee further finds that this measure will provide tenants with accessible and accurate information concerning existing laws that protect tenants, the rights afforded under such laws, and the resources available to assist tenants. The information required by this measure will support renters in avoiding eviction and homelessness, thereby improving housing stability in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that a landlord is required to provide a tenant with a copy of the most recently issued notice of tenant rights; and

(2) 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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1776, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1776, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair