Committee advances housing measures and tenant‑rights notice requirement

The committee advanced multiple housing-related bills on Feb. 13. House Bill 1732 would establish the Kamaaina Homes program within the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to fund county purchases of voluntary deed restrictions or construction of accessory dwelling units dedicated to local workers. Testimony from nonprofit advocates and AARP emphasized workforce housing needs and recommended administrative caps and a sunset review.

House Bill 2049 would restructure the conveyance tax into a marginal bracket system, adjust multifamily taxes, and dedicate portions of revenue to funds such as the Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund and the Hawaiian Homes Trust. The Department of Taxation offered a drafting amendment to make the cost-of-living adjustment apply to bracket values rather than rates; the Department of Hawaiian Homelands and Office of Planning testified in support of dedicated funding.

House Bill 1776 would require the Office of Consumer Protection to publish an accessible, multilingual notice of tenant rights and require landlords to provide the most recent notice in the tenant’s language if available. OCP said it will publish the notice but may need additional resources and time to expand translations beyond currently available languages; tenant advocates urged translations for languages common in Hawaii including Ilocano, Marshallese, Tongan and Chuukese.

The committee recommended moving these measures forward with technical amendments and noted suggestions on fund allocations, administrative caps and translation timelines.