Bill Text: HI SCR171 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: LRB; Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-30 - (S) Report adopted, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM. [SCR171 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-SCR171-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2889

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 171

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Education and Housing and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 171 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING A REPORT ON THE FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A FORECLOSURE TRUST FUND TO ASSIST HAWAII'S HOMEOWNERS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to request a report on the feasibility of establishing a foreclosure trust fund to assist Hawaii's homeowners.

 

     Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by one state agency.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees find that thousands of Hawaii homeowners have experienced or are experiencing economic hardships and are seeking assistance from the State and other organizations to avoid losing their homes.  Your Committees have learned that a National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program has been established and that several Hawaii nonprofits currently provide foreclosure mitigation counseling services under this program.

 

     Your Committees find that rather than a foreclosure trust fund, a state foreclosure mitigation counseling program could continue the provision of valuable counseling services to Hawaii's homeowners after the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program funds lapse.  Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting information on the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program and its current implementation in the State;

 

     (2)  Adding language that supports the establishment of a state foreclosure mitigation counseling program modeled after the federal program to continue foreclosure mitigation counseling services in the State;

 

     (3)  Replacing the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation with the Legislative Reference Bureau as the agency to perform the study requested by this measure;

 

     (4)  Amending the elements of the study to include an examination of issues such as:

 

         (A)  The feasibility of allowing homeowners to hold foreclosure in abeyance while undergoing foreclosure mitigation counseling; and

 

         (B)  The establishment of a state foreclosure mitigation counseling program and a foreclosure mitigation counseling special fund to finance counseling services under the program;

 

     (5)  Amending the title to reflect its amended purpose; and

 

     (6)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Housing and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 171, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 171, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair		____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair