STAND. COM. REP. NO. 145-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1968

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Economic Development & Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 1968 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PERMITTING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to develop a statewide permitting intake platform; and

(2) Appropriate funds for the development of the platform, subject to a matching funds requirement from the counties.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Mayor of the County of Hawaiʻi; Hawaii Food Industry Association; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; Maui Chamber of Commerce; Holomua Collaborative; Cares; and three individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

Your Committee finds that the Simplifying Permitting for Enhanced Economic Development (SPEED) Task Force was established pursuant to Act 133, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, to identify actions taken, challenges encountered, and legislative measures needed to facilitate, expedite, and coordinate state and intergovernmental permitting processes. Your Committee further finds that in the SPEED Task Force's December 2025 Final Report, it identified incomplete and incorrect submissions, misrouted applications, and poor-quality plans as a major source of delay in the permitting process. The SPEED Task Force has recommended the development of a digital intake platform to help prevent the incomplete application submissions and related issues. Your Committee believes that at this time, rather than implementing a statewide intake platform, a more prudent approach is to pilot a more narrowly-tailored platform in a single county.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the statewide permitting intake platform to an artificial intelligence-assisted pre-compliance intake pilot platform, to be developed in a single county selected by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism;

(2) Narrowing the scope of the pilot platform to permitting intake and projects involving single-family homes;

(3) Requiring the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to develop a policy or metric to measure the success of the pilot platform;

(4) Changing the appropriation and matching fund requirement to unspecified amounts;

(5) Limiting the matching funds requirement to the single county selected by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism;

(6) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $25,000 for the artificial intelligence-assisted pre-compliance intake pilot platform with $25,000 in matching funds.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Development & Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1968, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1968, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Water & Land.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Economic Development & Technology,

____________________________

GREGGOR ILAGAN, Chair