Legislature on a housing-reform streak

by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., President / CEO, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

With the 2025 legislative session officially in the books, it’s time to assess the results.

I’ll talk about the broader picture in the near future. Today, I just want to affirm that when it comes to housing reform, state lawmakers mostly earned our praise. Bills they passed that will help mitigate Hawaii’s housing crisis include:

>> HB422, which, if signed by the governor, will eliminate school impact fees for home projects under 100 units and substantially reduce them for other housing projects.

>> SB66, which establishes a 60-day deadline for agencies to act on a permit application, and allows a licensed architect or engineer to sign off on the building plans if that permit has not been approved or denied within that timeframe.

The Legislature also approved two bills that will streamline the state’s historic preservation review process, which for years has delayed construction and added to the cost of housing — and was poised to get worse as more and more aging properties fall into the current “historic” definition.

Specifically, SB15 redefines what is considered a “historic” property, and HB830 will allow a private contractor to help if the State Historic Preservation Division cannot complete a review within 60 days.

Also on the list of victories is SB1296, which will codify the governor’s emergency exemption from Special Management Area regulations for more than 600 coastal structures in Lahaina that were destroyed by the August 2023 wildfires.

I was glad to see this bill pass, but unfortunately, the governor’s SMA waiver doesn’t provide SMA relief for about a hundred property owners who are also in what is called the Shoreline Setback area, and neither will SB1296. My colleagues and I at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii had urged legislators to include those properties in the bill, but it was not to be.

I sincerely hope this shoreline omission can be addressed through another mechanism, as it seems a shame to make these folks suffer indefinitely through no fault of their own.

All things considered though, this is the second year in a row that the Legislature has taken bold action to speed up permitting, cut construction costs and generally encourage more homebuilding.

As for other results of the 2025 legislative session, both good and bad, I’ll have more to say about those soon. And in that regard, please consider attending one of Grassroot’s upcoming “legislative wrap-up” events that for the first time will take place in all four of Hawaii’s counties.

I will be moderating the luncheons in Kahului, Honolulu and Lihue — on May 13, 14 and 16, respectively — and my colleague Sean Mitsui will do the honors in Hilo on May 15.

Come find out what Grassroot did during the session to help lower our cost of living, encourage more housing, improve healthcare access, increase economic opportunities, promote government accountability and generally make Hawaii a place where we all can thrive and prosper.

To be sure, we collaborated with many others both within and outside the Legislature. And my thanks go out to all who helped make that happen.

E hana kākou! (Let's work together!)