House Committee on Housing advances multiple bills; Hawaiian homelands measure and housing-resiliency funding move forward

The House Committee on Housing met in a public hearing and decision session to consider more than a dozen bills addressing Hawaiian homelands, public housing, tenant selection, housing resiliency programs, building-code authority and other housing topics. The committee voted to move several bills forward with technical amendments, deferred others for additional work, and discussed trade-offs between safety requirements and housing costs.

Committee action matters because the measures shape eligibility for Hawaiian homelands, local authority over building codes, the structure and funding of a proposed homes-strengthening program, and narrow exemptions for a small affordable-homeownership fund — all items that affect housing availability, construction costs and disaster resilience across the islands.

The hearing drew testimony from state agencies, nonprofit advocates and individuals. Lindsay Pekwena Pakele, strategy consultant for housing at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, said the office “stands on our written testimony in support of HB295” and was available for questions. Individual witness Mai Hall gave a personal account of her mother's four-decade wait on the Department of Hawaiian Homelands list and said, “My mother deserves the dignity of having a home of her own,” citing the impact of long wait times on elders.

Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) staff told the committee that current statutory eligibility requires beneficiaries to be at least 50% native Hawaiian and that reducing the blood quantum to 25% would require amendments to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and multiple external reviews, including beneficiary consultation and review by the Department of the Interior. DHHL added it was engaging with the Department of the Interior’s Office of Native Hawaiian Relations to plan beneficiary consultation and data collection.

Other agency testimony included the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, which provided support statements on multiple public-housing bills covering tenant selection, evictions and property controls. Jerry Bump, acting insurance commissioner at DCCA, and Dante Huat Epstein of the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority testified in support of bills to establish a homes-strengthening program intended to make homes more wind-resistant and more attractive to insurers.

Fire-safety and building-code bills drew sharp debate. Gary Lum of the State Fire Council warned that removing major fire-code components would undermine safety, saying the current codes provide multiple overlapping protections and removing one is like “sitting on a two-legged stool.” The Building Industry Association of Hawaii, represented by Roseanne Freitas, opposed a measure to require sprinklers in certain residential settings, arguing that adding sprinklers would raise home prices in an already expensive market; Freitas noted a current median home price of about $975,000 and said a sprinkler retrofit can be “a considerable amount of money,” with some quotes on Kauai near $30,000.

Committee leadership said they will seek to reconcile similar bills and agency preferences on program administration. For the homes-strengthening/resiliency legislation, the chair instructed that language from related bills be harmonized, recommended a $10,000,000 initial appropriation be noted in the committee report for the proposed special fund, and proposed allowing a third-party administrator or an alternative agency to run the program if appropriate.

Votes at a glance - HB295 (relating to Hawaiian homelands): Passed with amendments (HD1). Committee recommended passage with technical amendments clarifying a successor definition to include descendants who are at least 25% Hawaiian; recommendation adopted. - HB199 (Hawaii Public Housing Authority): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted. - HB1096 (tenant selection): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted. - HB1097 (public housing evictions): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted. - HB1095 (Hawaii Public Housing Authority): Deferred (essentially identical to HB199). - HB1093 (Hawaii Public Housing Authority): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted. - HB1094 (Hawaii Public Housing Authority): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted. - HB1056 (Strength in Hawaii Homes program): Deferred (committee chose to move a companion bill and harmonize language). - HB1013 (Important agricultural lands): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted; committee defined short-term rental per each county. - HB1294 (agricultural workforce housing): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted; AG technical amendments and DOA administrative support clarified. - HB89 (teacher housing vouchers): Passed with amendments (HD1); committee adopted AG-recommended standards clarifying eligible teachers and application timing. - HB276 (condominiums): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted. - HB528 (residential leasehold): Passed with amendments (HD1); recommendation adopted. - HB415 (fire-safety / sprinklers): Deferred for further consideration after testimony raised cost and access concerns; committee noted strong safety arguments but deferred given cost implications and a sunset already scheduled for 2027. - HB1467 (housing resiliency / retrofit fund): Passed with amendments (HD1). Committee report to include a $10,000,000 placeholder appropriation to the special fund, allow contracting with a third-party administrator, adopt a 40% AMI means test and broaden the program beyond "historically vulnerable areas." Recommendation adopted. - HB741 (Affordable Homeownership Revolving Fund prevailing-wage exemption narrow carve-out): Passed with amendments (HD1); committee set a value cap of <$1,500,000 for eligible projects and adopted preamble language to limit the exemption's scope. - HB1 (building-code measure): Deferred (concern about lack of timeframes leading to adoption delays and insurance/FEMA implications). - HB745 (county amendments to state building code): Passed with amendments (HD1); committee clarified that counties may amend the Hawaii State Building Code by ordinance and that the state council’s adopted code would take effect statewide until a county enacts local amendments. - HB1321 (building-code measure): Deferred (incompatible with HB745).

Discussion highlights and clarifications - Blood quantum and succession on Hawaiian homelands: DHHL reiterated existing eligibility at 50% and explained that lowering to 25% would require amendments to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, beneficiary consultation, a Chapter 91 administrative process, review by the Department of the Interior and ultimately congressional action. - Individual testimony: Mai Hall described her family's decades-long wait on DHHL’s list and stated she is “25% Hawaiian” and argued the blood quantum change is needed so her descendants might eventually receive homestead benefits. - Resiliency program structure: Committee members and witnesses urged harmonizing two similar bills and considering a third-party administrator to streamline grants, drawing on models from states such as Alabama where fortified-home programs have already retrofitted thousands of homes. - Building codes and insurability: Witnesses flagged potential conflicts if counties are permitted to reduce minimum standards; the committee discussed preserving a statewide update process while allowing counties to amend codes by ordinance.

What’s next Several bills advanced with HD1 technical amendments and will proceed to follow-on committees for further consideration. Deferred measures will return when sponsors and staff reconcile language and address cost, legal or administrative questions raised in testimony.

Ending Committee members thanked witnesses and staff; the hearing was adjourned after the last votes and deferrals were recorded.