HB1712 • 2026

RELATING TO THE STATE BUILDING CODE COUNCIL.

Labor

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor: MIYAKE, AMATO, CHUN, EVSLIN, ILAGAN, KEOHOKAPU-LEE LOY, KILA, KUSCH, MATSUMOTO, OLDS, SAYAMA, TAKENOUCHI, TARNAS
Last action: 2026-03-04
Official status: The committee(s) on JHA recommend(s) that the measure be deferred.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not specify that the total number of voting members increases from twelve to thirteen. The effective date is listed as July 1, 3000 in the summary text and bill excerpt, which seems unusual and may be a placeholder or error.

State Building Code Council Membership Changes

This bill makes representatives from the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and the General Contractors Association of Hawaii permanent members of the State Building Code Council, and adds new members from two other associations.

What This Bill Does

Makes both a representative from the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and a representative from the General Contractors Association of Hawaii permanent standing members on the State Building Code Council instead of rotating every four years.
Adds one member each from the Plumbers and Fitters United Association, Local 675, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1186 to the council.

Who It Names or Affects

The State Building Code Council
Building Industry Association of Hawaii
General Contractors Association of Hawaii
Plumbers and Fitters United Association, Local 675
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1186

Terms To Know

State Building Code Council: A group that creates and updates building codes for Hawaii.
Building Codes: Rules about how buildings should be designed, built, and maintained to keep people safe.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not specify when the changes will take effect.
It is unclear if or when this bill will become law.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HD1

Hawaii published version HD1

Plain English: This amendment makes the representatives from the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and the General Contractors Association of Hawaii permanent members of the State Building Code Council, instead of alternating every four years.

Makes both the representative of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and the representative of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii permanent standing members of the State Building Code Council.
Adds one member from the Plumbers and Fitters United Association, Local 675, and one member from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1186 to the council.

The amendment specifies an effective date of July 1, 3000, which seems unusual and may be a placeholder or error in the text provided.

Bill History

2026-03-04 H
The committee(s) on JHA recommend(s) that the measure be deferred.
2026-02-27 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Wednesday, 03-04-26 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-02-18 H
Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on JHA with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0).
2026-02-18 H
Reported from WAL (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 455-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.
2026-02-12 H
The committee on WAL recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Hashem, Morikawa, Belatti, Ichiyama, Iwamoto, Poepoe, Woodson, Shimizu, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-02-10 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by WAL on Thursday, 02-12-26 9:00AM in House conference room 411 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-01-26 H
Referred to WAL, JHA, referral sheet 1
2026-01-21 H
Introduced and Pass First Reading.
2026-01-20 H
Prefiled.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO THE STATE BUILDING CODE COUNCIL.
State Building Code Council; Department of Accounting and General Services; Membership; Building Industry Association of Hawaii; General Contractors Association of Hawaii; Plumbers and Fitters United Association, Local 675; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1186
Makes both the representative of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and the representative of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii permanent standing members of the State Building Code Council, instead of members who alternate terms every four years. Adds one representative of the Plumbers and Fitters United Association, Local 675, and one representative of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1186, as members of the State Building Code Council. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

HB1712

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1712

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating
to the state building code council
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION 1.
�
The
legislature finds that the state building code council was established by Act
82, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, to create and implement the state building
code.
�
The legislature further finds that
health and safety considerations relating to the state building code are
matters of statewide concern.

����
The legislature also finds that the state
building code council has struggled with limited funding and insufficient
staffing since its creation.
�
Most
members of the council are government officials lacking the required knowledge
and experience, and as a result, amendments to the state building code often do
not pertain to public health or safety and are adopted without analysis of
financial impact; input from residential, commercial, and industrial builders;
or consideration of the resulting increase in the overall cost of construction.
�
In addition, the law requires the state
building code to be based on various codes, including the International
Building Code, which is updated every three years.
�
This triennial updating process places significant
burdens on the short-staffed state building code council.
�
The frequent updates also burden the staff of
county building departments who spend hundreds of hours revising their
respective county building codes, which in turn places additional burdens on the
construction industry by requiring employees to learn the updated code and
retrain workers.
�
These burdens are ultimately
borne by consumers in the form of increased building costs and delays in permit
processing.

����
The legislature believes that increasing
the number of members on the state building code council who have knowledge of the
state building code will help to alleviate some of the burdens associated with
the updating process.
�
Currently, a
representative of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and a
representative of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii alternate serving
four-year terms on the council.
�
The
legislature believes that, since the state building code knowledge offered by
these two entities is so critical to the council's efforts, representatives of both
entities should have permanent, standing memberships on the council.

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Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to make
both the representative of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and the representative
of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii permanent, standing members of
the building code council.

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SECTION
2
.
�
Section 107-22, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

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"(a)
�

There is established a state building code council.
�
The council shall be placed within the
department of accounting and general services for administrative purposes only.
�
The council shall consist of [
twelve
]
thirteen

voting members and one nonvoting member, who shall be the comptroller or the
comptroller's designee.
�
The council
members shall serve four‑year terms.
�

The voting members shall include:

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(1)
�
One county building official from each
of the four counties appointed by the mayor;

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(2)
�
One member representing the state fire
council;

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(3)
�
One member representing the department
of labor and industrial relations, who has significant experience in elevator
safety;

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(4)
�
One member representing the Hawaii
state energy office of the department of business, economic development, and
tourism;

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(5)
�
One member representing the Hawaii
emergency management agency, appointed by the director of Hawaii emergency
management;

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(6)
�
One member representing the Structural
Engineers Association of Hawaii;

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(7)
�
One member representing the American
Institute of Architects, Hawaii State Council;

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(8)
�
One member representing the Building
Industry Association of Hawaii [
or the General Contractors Association of
Hawaii,
] who has significant experience with building codes[
, with
alternating four-year terms between the two organizations and the first
four-year term to be served by the Building Industry Association of Hawaii; and
]
;

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(9)
�
One member representing the
Subcontractors' Association of Hawaii, who has significant experience with
building codes[
.
]
; and

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(10)
�
One member
representing the General Contractors Association of Hawaii who has significant
experience with building codes.
"

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SECTION 3.
�

Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.
�
New statutory material is underscored.

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SECTION 4.
�

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

State
Building Code Council; Department of Accounting and General Services;
Membership; Building Industry Association of Hawaii; General Contractors
Association of Hawaii

Description:

Makes both
the representative of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii and the
representative of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii permanent standing
members of the State Building Code Council, instead of members who alternate
terms every 4 years.

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.