STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2662

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2762

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2762 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow persons denied eligibility for public housing based upon an eviction after 1985, but not less than ten years prior to a current application, the right to appeal the denial.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, which requested amendments, and by an individual public housing case manager.

Your Committee finds that this measure will provide a second chance to those persons previously evicted from public housing who can work out their issues and prove themselves worthy tenants again, thereby avoiding the necessity of living on the streets, in homeless shelters, or in overcrowded conditions with family members.

Your Committee has amended the measure to include the following conditions for appeal of ineligibility, as requested by the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii:

(1) No prohibition under federal law against admission to public housing;

(2) No outstanding liability for unpaid rent or damages; and

(3) Written verification of responsible tenancy in other accommodations since the eviction, and successful completion of drug rehabilitation or anger management to address the behavioral problem that led to the eviction.

Your Committee has also amended the measure to change the effective date to July 1, 2006, and to make technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity and style.

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. 2762, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2762, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair