STAND. COM. REP. NO. 561

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 66

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 66 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require counties to grant building permits within sixty days if the application is stamped and certified by a licensed engineer and architect and other certain conditions are met.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, RMA Sales, Hawaiʻi Association of REALTORS, Hawaii Food Industry Association, NAIOP Hawaii, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, Maui Chamber of Commerce, and five individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu and Lāhainā Strong.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and one individual.

Your Committee finds that in recent years, permit approval processes have considerably delayed the construction of many residential and housing development projects. However, the State has a mandate to protect historic properties, burial sites, and other cultural resources that are valuable to the State's history and people. Therefore, this measure streamlines operations with the existing permitting process while acknowledging the State's cultural heritage.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that a building permit for a single-family and multi-family project shall be issued within sixty days of a complete application;

(2) Specifying that one option for an application to be deemed complete shall include qualified county professionals who meet State Historic Preservation Division rules governing professional qualifications for architecture, archaeology, architectural history, or physical anthropology, making a reasonable and good-faith determination that the project does not have the potential to affect historic properties, archaeological resources, or burial sites; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 66, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 66, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Housing,

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STANLEY CHANG, Chair