Senate committees split on bill exempting Hawaiian homelands housing from school impact fees

Lawmakers and state agencies on March 20 debated HB 1088 HD1, a bill that would exempt housing developed by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands from school impact fees. The Committee on Education recommended deferring the measure, the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs voted to pass it as written, and the Committee on Housing also deferred action.

The bill drew testimony from the Department of Education, the School Facilities Authority, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and outside groups about how impact fees are collected and used and whether exemptions would undercut the fund that pays for school land and construction.

Dean Uchida, deputy superintendent for the Department of Education, said the department is willing to support eliminating the construction-cost component of the impact fee for government affordable-housing developers, including the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, "but we'd like to keep the requirement for the land contribution for future public school sites." Uchida added that the land component is important "should any…