STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2262-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.C.R. No. 177

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 177 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND GENERAL SERVICES TO CONVENE A COOPERATIVE WORKING GROUP TO ADDRESS STATE PROJECTS THAT REQUIRE COUNTY PERMITTING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of Accounting and General Services to convene a cooperative working group to address state projects that require county permitting.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services and Office of Planning and Sustainable Development. Your Committee received comments on this measure from Aloha Independent Living Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that the State submits hundreds of building-permit applications each year to county permitting departments and the allocated costs for these state projects total hundreds of millions of dollars and support thousands of jobs, but the projects often face considerable delays in the permit-approval process. Your Committee further finds that during 2022 and 2023, more than ninety percent of all state building-permit applications submitted to the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu took longer than one hundred eighty days to obtain approval, with the average approval length being approximately six hundred days. Your Committee also finds that this processing time was reported to be approximately six times longer than the average approval time for private-sector building-permit applications and the delays increased costs to the State by more than $30 million over a two-year period due to inflation. Your Committee additionally finds that the State requires further information to understand and resolve these county-level permitting inefficiencies and other obstacles faced by state projects.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 177 and recommends its adoption.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair