Senate housing committees approve HCR 66 and HCR 78; two housing nominees receive advise-and-consent

The Senate committees on Public Safety, Military Affairs and Housing (joint) and the Senate Committee on Housing held a combined hearing on April 10, 2025, and took final action on two concurrent resolutions and two gubernatorial nominations affecting state housing policy.

The most consequential votes: the committees passed HCR 66, a request that the State Building Code Council update the state building code to authorize point-access block construction for residential buildings up to six stories; they also passed HCR 78, declaring the intent that projects whose units qualified for housing credits under Act 31 remain eligible for credits after that act’s repeal. The committees advised and consented to the nominations of Lisa Ann Darcy to the Hawaii Public Housing Authority board and Grant Chung to the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation board.

Why it matters: HCR 66 would ask the State Building Code Council to change construction-authority language that could affect midrise residential development statewide. HCR 78 aims to protect the continuity of housing-credit eligibility for projects that relied on Act 31. The two confirmations place experienced private- and nonprofit-sector housing figures on state boards that oversee funding, development and management of public and affordable housing.

Votes and formal actions

- HCR 66 — Pass unamended. Motion recorded as the chair’s recommendation to pass HCR 66 unamended; committee recommendation adopted in joint session and later passed by the Housing Committee. Named recorded votes in the joint session include Chair LaFonte (yes) and Senator Fukunaga (yes); the committee later recorded the chair voting aye and noted “with all others voting aye” in the Housing-only disposition. (Transcript evidence: introduction of HCR 66 at the joint hearing and the later Housing Committee vote.)

- HCR 78 — Pass unamended. Chair’s recommendation to pass HCR 78 unamended; the committee recorded votes of Chair (aye), Vice Chair (aye), Senator…