HB1713

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1713
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to school impact fees.

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawaii faces a severe housing shortage and that reducing regulatory barriers and development costs is essential to increasing the supply of homes. Impact fees imposed on smaller residential projects can add substantial costs to housing and may discourage the development of infill units needed within existing communities.

The legislature further finds that the school impact fee program, established in subpart B of part VI of chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, was designed to ensure that new developments contribute their fair share toward school facilities needed to support enrollment growth. While the program may be appropriate for large master-planned communities that create significant, concentrated increases in enrollment, applying the same fee structure to smaller projects places a disproportionate burden on developments that have minimal impact on school capacity.

The legislature also finds that residential developments of fewer than one hundred units typically generate a small number of students who can be accommodated within existing school facilities or through minor adjustments that do not require new school construction. Applying substantial impact fees to these smaller projects increases housing costs without producing a corresponding benefit to public school infrastructure.

The purpose of this Act is to encourage housing production and ensure that school impact fees are applied equitably by exempting new residential developments of fewer than one hundred units from the school impact fee requirements.

SECTION 2. Section 302A-1603, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) The following shall be exempt from this section:

(1) Any form of housing permanently excluding school-aged children, with the necessary covenants or declarations of restrictions recorded on the property;

(2) Any form of housing that is or will be paying the transient accommodations tax under chapter 237D;

(3) All nonresidential development;

(4) Any development with an executed education contribution agreement or other like document with the agency for the contribution of school sites or payment of fees for school land or school construction;

(5) Any housing project developed by the government;

(6) Any [~~housing project~~] dwelling units in a housing project processed pursuant to sections 46-15.1 and 201H-38[;] that are reserved for low- or moderate-income households;

(7) Any [~~housing~~] dwelling units in a housing project that [~~meets~~] meet the definition of affordable housing in sections 46-15.25 or 201H-57[;] and are reserved for households meeting the income requirements of those sections;

(8) Any housing that is a single-room dwelling;

(9) Any form of housing developed by the department of Hawaiian home lands for use by beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended; and

(10) Any form of development by the Hawaii community development authority pursuant to part XII of chapter 206E; [~~and~~

[](11)[]] Any form of development by the Hawaii housing finance and development corporation pursuant to part V of chapter 201H[.]; and

(12) Any housing project consisting of fewer than one hundred dwelling units; provided that subdivisions or phases of a development or master plan shall be considered parts of the same housing project; provided further that no developer shall artificially subdivide a project or phase the development of a project to avoid the requirements of this subpart."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that:

(1) Notwithstanding any provision of this Act to the contrary, any existing educational contribution agreement or agreement that has been executed with the department of education or the school facilities authority pursuant to subpart B of part VI of chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, prior to the effective date of this Act shall remain effective unless the parties to the agreement mutually agree to terminate or renegotiate the agreement; and

(2) This Act shall be repealed on July 1, 2029, and section 302A-1603, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall be reenacted in the form in which it read prior to the effective date of Act 268, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________