STAND. COM. REP. NO.2349

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2172

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2172 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAWAII HURRICANE RELIEF FUND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the establishment of a two-year pilot program that provides grants to homeowners to install wind damage mitigation devices.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund (HHRF) Board, Hurricane Hazard Mitigation Ad Hoc Task Force, Hawaii Security Shutters, LLC, Hawaii Independent Insurance Agents Association, Building Industry Association, and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that the installation of wind damage mitigation devices will reduce the risk of property loss due to hurricanes, tropical storms, and strong winds. This measure would encourage the installation of wind damage mitigation devices by providing dollar-for-dollar matching grants up to $3,500 to homeowners who retrofit their homes with devices approved by the HHRF.

The HHRF Technical Advisory Committee on Hazard Mitigation (TAC), which was requested by the Legislature to study the issue of hazard mitigation, reported that a matching grant program is both feasible and cost effective. A grant program is also consistent with the duty of the HHRF to create loss mitigation incentives.

Upon careful consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by replacing its contents with the contents of a similar measure, S.B. No. 2220. As amended, this measure incorporates the recommendations of the TAC by:

(1) Establishing a three-year, rather than a two-year, grant program to provide sufficient time to initiate and market the program;

(2) Placing the program in the Insurance Division, rather than under the jurisdiction of the HHRF, which is winding down;

(3) Providing additional guidelines or parameters for grant applications, including the specification of approved wind resistive devices;

(4) Providing a maximum grant amount of $2,100;

(5) Creating a loss mitigation grant fund as a depository for program moneys;

(6) Providing for immunity for transfers of moneys between the hurricane reserve trust fund (HRTF) and the loss mitigation grand fund; and

(7) Appropriating a total of $30,000,000 for the grant program, but from general revenues, rather than from the HRTF.

Your Committee has also amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, and by making technical, nonsubstantive changes to reflect preferred drafting style.

It is your Committee's intent that any funds used from the HRTF to provide grants under this program be limited to investment earnings, and that the fund corpus not be utilized for this purpose.

Finally, your Committee recommends that as this measure proceeds through the legislative process, it continue to be brought before the public for further discussion and input.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2172, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2172, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing,

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair