A proposal by the powerful House Speaker Joseph Souki to require owners of commercial lands to sell those lands to their tenants is “clearly unconstitutional,” and bills that would have required owners of those lands to sell will not be heard this session, said House Water & Land Committee Chairman Ryan Yamane.

The forced leasehold conversion idea was proposed on the opening day of the 2016 session in a speech by Souki, who said that lawmakers should “have the determination and will” to take action to help small businesses.

Souki, (D, Waihee-Waiehu-Wailuku) said he was concerned about a string of closures of locally owned shops and stores in recent years that were forced out of business by landlords who raised the rents on commercial properties.

“We can level the playing field and change for the better the business landscape across the state — if we are willing to reinvent the rules that govern commercial leasehold lands,” Souki said in his opening day speech.

He told reporters that state lawmakers have already passed a law requiring mandatory leasehold conversion for lands with homes on them, and said lawmakers could do the same for commercial properties.

Souki then introduced House Bills 1635 and 2173 to move ahead with the mandatory commercial leasehold conversion plan.

Yamane initially scheduled the bills for a hearing this coming Saturday, but said today his research showed the bills would cause an array problems for landowners ranging from Kamehameha Schools and the major banks to families and trusts that own commercial lands. He also concluded Souki’s proposal would violate both the state and federal constitutions.

“There’s so many negative ramifications that I’d rather just pull the bill, and then work on it in the future years,” Yamane said.

Souki, however, said he decided to delay consideration of the bill to allow more time for research into issues such as subleases.

Yamane acknowledged that rising rents are hurting small businesses, however. “That’s an issue that we need to look at, but it’s very complicated,” Yamane said. He said lawmakers will have to find some other way to address the issue.

“We need to move cautiously, because it has a fiscal impact,” he said.