CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO.75-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 331

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

C.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 331, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to streamline the administrative eviction process for public housing tenants while protecting tenants' rights to due process.

The current process for evicting public housing tenants is often slow and protracted, resulting in revenue losses to the State when tenants stop paying rent and contributing to the lack of sufficient public housing. However, earlier efforts to address this problem by replacing administrative eviction proceedings with judicial summary possession proceedings raised concerns about public housing tenants' abilities to defend themselves against an eviction under the judicial process.

This measure balances the need for more streamlined eviction procedures with tenants' needs for meaningful opportunities to contest an eviction by imposing additional pre-eviction requirements on the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii (HCDCH) that are intended to help tenants identify and resolve tenancy problems, clarifying that eviction hearings are contested case proceedings under the Administrative Procedure Act, requiring that the eviction board have a tenant member, requiring that tenants be provided the opportunity to cure a lease violation, and repealing the administrative appeal process.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a drop-dead date of July 1, 2007, and providing that eviction proceedings pending as of this date shall continue under the procedures established in this measure;

(2) Requiring that the HCDCH submit a report to the Legislature in 2006 regarding evictions processed under the revised procedures and the effects of this measure on the eviction process, and proposing legislation to extend or repeal the sunset; and

(3) Making a technical amendment for the purpose of clarification.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 331, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 331, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, C.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________

MICHAEL P. KAHIKINA, Co-Chair

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Co-Chair

____________________________

BRIAN KANNO, Co-Chair