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SB2066
THE SENATE
S.B. NO.
2066
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating
to county permitting and inspection
.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
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SECTION 1.
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The legislature finds that the State submits hundreds
of building permit applications each year to county permitting
departments.
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The allocated costs for the
projects total hundreds of millions of dollars and support thousands of jobs
but often face considerable delays in the permit approval process.
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During 2022 and 2023, more than ninety per
cent of all state building permit applications submitted to the city and county
of Honolulu department of planning and permitting took longer than one hundred
eighty days to obtain approval, with the average approval length being approximately
six hundred days.
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This processing time
was approximately six times longer than the average private sector building
permit application approval time, and the delays increased state costs by more
than $30,000,000 due to inflation.
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The
legislature further finds that exempting certain state projects from county
building permit requirements can help to expedite state projects and reduce the
workload of county permitting offices, helping to decrease permit approval
times for private and other government permits.
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The
purpose of this Act is to authorize the State to exempt certain state projects
from the county building permit requirements.
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SECTION
2.
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Chapter 46, Hawaii Revised Statutes,
is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read
as follows:
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"
�46-
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County building permit requirements;
state projects; exemption; report.
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(a)
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Notwithstanding any other law to the
contrary, the State may exempt a state project from county building permit
requirements when that project is compliant with applicable building codes or
county, national, or international prescriptive construction standards,
including
construction, electrical, energy conservation,
plumbing, and sidewalk standards, as
applicable;
provided that the state project is not located within a special flood hazard
area as identified on the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency's current Flood Insurance Rate Maps
.
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(b)
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All projects exempted under subsection (a) shall
be included in a report that is regularly made available to the public, such as
in a board report or list of monthly environmental exemption notifications
.
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(c)
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When a state agency
undertakes a project that is to be dedicated to a county and desires to be
exempted from county
building
permit requirements, the state
agency may prepare a programmatic or project-specific agreement with the county
that establishes requirements and standards for review and acceptance by the
county, such as inspection and certificate of occupancy requirements and
management of construction record documentation
.
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(d)
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Any state agency desiring to utilize
exemptions from county permitting processes may establish a cooperative working
group
with the counties and other stakeholders to
identify any collective needs at the state level to support the identification
of infrastructure adequacy, site development reviews, building permits,
inspections, certificates of occupancy, and management of construction records
.
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The cooperative working group
may:
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(1)
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Identify state resources that may be needed
to coordinate and integrate such processes with the counties and other
stakeholders;
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(2)
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Consider other actions that may be needed
to support state construction activities, such as the establishment of a state
development or zoning agency; and
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(3)
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Be established as a committee or permitted
interaction group of an existing board or interagency council
.
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(e)
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Each cooperative working group established pursuant to subsection (d)
shall be subject to the requirements of chapter 92 and submit at least one
interim progress report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to
the convening of the regular session immediately succeeding the establishment
of the cooperative working group.
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(f)
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Nothing in this section shall relieve any state
project from the laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations of the State and
county or any departments or boards thereof with respect to the construction,
operation, and maintenance of the state project, compliance with master plans
or zoning laws or regulations, compliance with building and health codes and
other laws, ordinances, or rules and regulations of similar nature applicable
to the state project.
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(g)
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As used in this section:
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"
B
uilding permit" means an
authorization required and issued by a county to perform within the
jurisdiction of the county, specified work governed by the county's building,
construction, electrical, energy conservation, plumbing, or sidewalk codes, as
applicable.
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"State
agency" means any office, department, board, commission, bureau, division,
public corporation, agency, or instrumentality of the State.
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"State
lands" means all land owned by the State through any state agency.
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"State
project" means any undertaking of work or improvement of state lands or
any interest therein, developed, acquired, constructed, reconstructed,
rehabilitated, improved, altered, or repaired by a state agency.
"
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SECTION
3.
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This Act does not affect rights and
duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were
begun before its effective date.
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SECTION 4.
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New statutory material is underscored.
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SECTION 5.
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This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.
INTRODUCED BY:
_____________________________
Report Title:
State
Agencies; Counties; State Projects; County Building Permit Requirements;
Exemption; Public Disclosure; Programmatic or Project-Specific Agreements;
Cooperative Working Groups; Report
Description:
Allows
state projects to be exempted from county building permit requirements under
certain conditions.
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Requires all
exempted state projects to be included in a report that is regularly made
available to the public.
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Allows state agencies that undertake projects to be dedicated to
a county to prepare programmatic or project-specific agreements that establish requirements
and standards for review and acceptance if the agency wants the project to be
exempted
.
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Allows state agencies that want to be
exempted from county permitting processes to establish a cooperative working
group.
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Requires cooperative working
groups to submit an interim report to the Legislature before the Regular
Session of 202
7.
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Effective
7/1/2050.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.