STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2034-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.B. No. 2398

S.D. 2

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 S.B. No. 2398, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RESIDENTIAL HOUSING UTILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require each county board of water supply to disclose on their website service connection availability for residential permitting and construction.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaiʻi YIMBY and Avalon Development Company. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and one individual.

Your Committee finds that making water service information accessible upfront reduces the uncertainty, unnecessary costs, and project delays that occur when builders and homeowners lack clear data about where new homes can realistically be supported by existing infrastructure. However, your Committee further finds that the scale of the analysis contemplated in this measure is overburdensome and infeasible.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the county boards of water supply are required to also provide a list of service-restricted areas;

(2) Deleting the provisions that specify the required content of service area maps;

(3) Clarifying that the service area map and list of service-restricted areas be kept reasonably updated, rather than prescribing that they be updated annually;

(4) Deleting language allowing persons to receive conditional clearances based on the published maps and requiring the clearances to be honored for building permits;

(5) Specifying a process for boards of water supply to respond to certain water availability requests; and

(6) 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 S.B. No. 2398, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2398, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair