March 30, 2026, 3:01 p.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 016 and Videoconference
To: Senate Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs
Sen. Carol Fukunaga, Chair
Sen. Chris Lee, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF SCR69/SR64 — REQUESTING THE STATE AUDITOR TO CONDUCT A PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE HAWAII STATE BUILDING CODE COUNCIL
Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and other Committee Members,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports SCR69/SR64, which requests the Hawaii State Auditor to conduct a performance audit of the State Building Code Council, making special mention of the housing shortage and the ways in which the Building Code Council has become a barrier to housing growth.
This resolution recognizes the fact that implementation of the building code in Hawaii has become an unwieldy and inefficient process, leading to a patchwork of county-level rules that contribute to construction delays and higher housing costs.
State law currently requires that the State Building Code Council adopt every iteration of the International Building Code and related codes within two years of being released; the counties then have an additional two years to make amendments to the state code and adopt those versions.
However, the state and counties often struggle to meet these deadlines. For example, the State Building Code Council adopted the 2018 Interim Building Code[1] in April 2021, and Honolulu didn’t fully adopt its own amended code based on that version until mid-2024.[2] In the meantime, the IBC released updated codes as scheduled in 2021 and 2024.
Because of this staggered adoption process, county building officials, builders and architects must constantly learn different building codes. For builders, this means navigating as many as four different county codes, which takes time and training that increases administrative costs.
This process also stresses the county planning and permitting departments, which are already understaffed, and research has shown that permitting delays can affect home prices.[3]
Assuming that this audit results in meaningful reform of the state building code process, we believe that this resolution will lead to housing growth in our state.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
1050 Bishop St. #508 | Honolulu, HI 96813 | 808-864-1776 | info@grassrootinstitute.org
[1] “State Building Code Adoption,” State Building Code Council, April 20, 2021, p. 1.
[2] Ashley Mizuo, “As stakeholders navigate building code updates, counties bear the burden,” Hawai‘i Public Radio, Aug. 27, 2024.
[3] Paul Emrath, “How Government Regulation Affects the Price of a New Home,” National Association of Homebuilders, Economics and Housing Policy Group, 2011, p. 5; and Adam Millsap, Samuel Staley and Vittorio Nastasi, “Assessing the Effects of Local Impact Fees and Land-use Regulations on Workforce Housing in Florida,” James Madison Institute, Dec. 11, 2018, p. 19.
