SB2066

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the State submits hundreds of building permit applications each year to county permitting departments. 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. 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. 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.

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.

The purpose of this Act is to authorize the State to exempt certain state projects from the county building permit requirements.

SECTION 2. Chapter 46, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§46- County building permit requirements; state projects; exemption; report. (a) 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.

(b) 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.

(c) 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.

(d) 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. The cooperative working group may:

(1) Identify state resources that may be needed to coordinate and integrate such processes with the counties and other stakeholders;

(2) Consider other actions that may be needed to support state construction activities, such as the establishment of a state development or zoning agency; and

(3) Be established as a committee or permitted interaction group of an existing board or interagency council.

(e) 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.

(f) 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.

(g) As used in this section:

"Building 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.

"State agency" means any office, department, board, commission, bureau, division, public corporation, agency, or instrumentality of the State.

"State lands" means all land owned by the State through any state agency.

"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."

SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. 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. Requires all exempted state projects to be included in a report that is regularly made available to the public. 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. Allows state agencies that want to be exempted from county permitting processes to establish a cooperative working group. Requires cooperative working groups to submit an interim report to the Legislature before the Regular Session of 2027. 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.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2066
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII