HawaiiCounties would study affordable housing rules before applying them
If enacted as written, the measure would require counties to study affordable housing rules and limit when they could apply those rules to housing projects.
What it does
Before a county adopts, changes, or enforces a rule requiring affordable homes or other contributions from housing projects, its council would have to approve a study of the rule.
Counties could require affordable homes from luxury projects or projects granted extra building rights only when a study supports the requirement and it stays within limits. Other covered projects would need proof the rule would not raise prices or block feasible building, or full cost offsets.
Existing county affordable housing rules could not be enforced against covered applications until the county completes the required study. Later enforcement would have to meet the study rules.
Argument forSome housing projects could avoid higher prices or becoming unworkable when counties must show a rule's effects or fully offset its costs.
Argument againstCounties could spend more time preparing and approving studies before setting housing rules, which might delay decisions about affordable homes.
More detail
A county council would have to approve a study before the county adopts, changes, or enforces an affordable housing rule. The rule covers county requirements for housing projects to provide or fund below-market homes, pay fees, dedicate land, or make similar contributions. The study would need to follow this section and section 46-143 and include the listed analyses. The council would have to approve the study before the county adopts, changes, or enforces the rule.
A county could impose an affordable housing requirement only under the conditions set for the type of project. Luxury status can depend on home prices, rents, building density, or building type. For some mixed-use projects, status is assessed by unit; for others, it is assessed for the whole project. For a project that is not luxury housing and gets no special increase in allowed building size or height, the county would need written findings and an approved study showing the rule would not raise market prices or stop feasible projects, or it would need to fully offset the rule's costs. For a luxury project or one granted a special increase in allowed building size or height, an approved study would need to link the requirement to the project's effects. The requirement could not exceed the lower of the cost of meeting related worker-housing needs or the added land value from the approval. The land-value limit would not apply to a luxury project without a special increase. For projects granted extra building rights, the rule would apply to applications found complete after the study is approved.
A county could not enforce an existing affordable housing rule against covered applications until it completes the required study. This applies to county affordable housing rules adopted before the Act's effective date and applications found complete on or after that date. After the study, enforcement could resume for later applications only if the study meets the stated requirements. The rules for luxury projects and projects granted extra building rights would still apply. The pause would apply to applications found complete on or after July 1, 2026, and last until the study is completed.
Where do you stand?
Choose your position
Tell your reps
Take a position to see your representatives and ways to contact them.
Where it stands
- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- To Governor
- Became Law
Looking ahead
No hearings or votes scheduled.
History
- 2026
- Jul 9Act 211, 07/08/2026 (Gov. Msg. No. 1313).Latest
- Jul 9Act 211, on 07/08/2026 (Gov. Msg. No. 1313).Became Law
- May 8Received notice of passage on Final Reading in House (Hse. Com. No. 888).Minor
- May 7Transmitted to Governor.
- May 6Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none).Major
- Vote recorded Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). Result: pass.Upper
- Vote recorded Passed Final Reading as amended in CD 1. Result: pass.Lower
- May 6Passed Final Reading as amended in CD 1 with Representative(s) Shimizu voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Cochran, Grandinetti voting no (2) and none excused (0).Major
- May 6Received notice of Final Reading (Sen. Com. No. 816).Minor
- May 1The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes of the Senate Conference Managers were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Wakai, Chang, Hashimoto; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.Minor
- Vote recorded The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. Result: pass.Upper
- Vote recorded The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. Result: pass.Lower
- May 1The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. The votes were as follows: 4 Ayes: Representative(s) Evslin, Hashem, Tarnas, Miyake; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Cochran; and 0 Excused: none.Minor
- May 1Reported from Conference Committee (Conf Com. Rep. No. 131-26) as amended in (CD 1).
- May 1Forty-eight (48) hours notice Wednesday, 05-06-26.
- May 1Reported from Conference Committee as amended CD 1 (Conf. Com. Rep. No. 131-26).
- May 148 Hrs. Notice (as amended CD 1) 05-06-26
- Apr 30Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 10:10AM; Conference Room 224.
- Apr 29Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-30-26 10:10AM; Conference Room 224.
- Apr 28Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-29-26 10:10AM; Conference Room 224.
- Apr 27Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 759).Minor
- Apr 27Bill scheduled for Conference Committee Meeting on Tuesday, 04-28-26 10:11AM in conference room 224.
- Apr 24Senate Conferees Appointed: Wakai Chair; Chang, Hashimoto Co-Chairs.
- Apr 20Re-referred to HSG, WAL, JHA, FIN, referral sheet 30Minor
- Apr 20House Conferees Appointed: Evslin, Hashem, Tarnas, Miyake Co-Chairs; Cochran.
- Apr 20Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 786).Minor
- Apr 17Received notice of disagreement (Hse. Com. No. 780).Minor
- Apr 16House disagrees with Senate amendment (s).Minor
- Apr 14Report adopted; Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House.Passed Senate
- Vote recorded Report adopted; Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Result: pass.Upper
- Apr 14Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 617) in amended form (SD 1).
- Apr 10Reported from WAM (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3773) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading, as amended (SD 1).
- Apr 1048 Hrs. Notice 04-14-26.
- Apr 9The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in WAM were as follows: 13 Aye(s): Senator(s) Dela Cruz, Moriwaki, DeCoite, Elefante, Hashimoto, Inouye, Kanuha, Kidani, Kim, Lee, C., Richards, Wakai, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.Minor
- Vote recorded The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. Result: pass.Upper
- Apr 7The committee(s) on WAM will hold a public decision making on 04-09-26 10:55AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference.
- Mar 25Reported from EIG/HOU (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3199) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading and referral to WAM.
- Mar 25Report adopted; Passed Second Reading and referred to WAM.Minor
- Mar 19The committee(s) on EIG recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in EIG were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Wakai, Chang; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Richards ; 2 No(es): Senator(s) DeCoite, Fevella; and 0 Excused: none.Minor
- Vote recorded The committee(s) on EIG recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. Result: pass.Upper
- Vote recorded The committee(s) on HOU recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. Result: pass.Upper
- Mar 19The committee(s) on HOU recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in HOU were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Chang, Hashimoto, Rhoads; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 2 No(es): Senator(s) Elefante, Fevella; and 0 Excused: none.Minor
- Mar 16The committee(s) on EIG/HOU has scheduled a public hearing on 03-19-26 3:02PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.
- Mar 12Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 280).Minor
- Mar 12Passed First Reading.Minor
- Mar 12Referred to EIG/HOU, WAM.Minor
- Mar 10Passed Third Reading as amended in HD 2 with Representative(s) Grandinetti, Iwamoto, Matayoshi, Poepoe, Sayama, Shimizu voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Cochran voting no (1) and none excused (0). Transmitted to Senate.Passed House
- Vote recorded Passed Third Reading as amended in HD 2. Result: pass.Lower
- Mar 6Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1201-26) as amended in HD 2, recommending passage on Third Reading.
- Mar 6Forty-eight (48) hours notice Tuesday, 03-10-26.
- Feb 26The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Hashem, Kahaloa, Sayama, Takayama, Garcia; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Shimizu; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Belatti, Cochran.Minor
- Vote recorded The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. Result: pass.Lower
- Feb 24Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Thursday, 02-26-26 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
- Feb 20Reported from WAL (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 718-26), recommending referral to JHA.
- Vote recorded Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on JHA. Result: pass.Lower
- Feb 20Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on JHA with Representative(s) Shimizu voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1).Minor
- Feb 19The committee on WAL recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Hashem, Morikawa, Belatti, Ichiyama, Poepoe, Woodson, Souza; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Iwamoto, Shimizu; Noes: none; and Excused: none.Minor
- Vote recorded The committee on WAL recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. Result: pass.Lower
- Feb 13Bill scheduled to be heard by WAL on Thursday, 02-19-26 9:00AM in House conference room 411 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
- Feb 10Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on WAL with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0).Minor
- Vote recorded Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on WAL. Result: pass.Lower
- Feb 9Reported from HSG (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 112-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to WAL.
- Feb 4The committee on HSG recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Evslin, Miyake, Cochran, Grandinetti, Kila, La Chica, Muraoka, Pierick; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Kitagawa.Minor
- Vote recorded The committee on HSG recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. Result: pass.Lower
- Jan 30Bill scheduled to be heard by HSG on Wednesday, 02-04-26 9:00AM in House conference room 430 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
- Jan 26Referred to HSG, WAL, JHA, referral sheet 1Minor
- Jan 21Introduced and Pass First Reading.Minor
- Jan 20Prefiled.Introduced
Housing