Developers are urging the Legislature to pass a bill this session that would slow down the pace of updating building codes in Hawaii to reduce costs and increase the number of homes that can be built.

But at least 25 national and local groups have raised serious concerns considering the Aug. 8 fires on Maui that destroyed more than 2,200 structures and killed at least 101 people. They say if anything, there’s a need for stronger safety standards.

The state Senate will soon take up House Bill 2089, which cleared the House on Tuesday. The measure would extend the deadline for the State Building Code Council to update and adopt building and residential codes every six years instead of every three years.

Gabe Maser of the International Code Council says the proposed delay of the renewal cycle for codes puts Hawaii in “unprecedented territory” and represented a “deeply abnormal response to a disaster.”

“No other state or territory has ever responded to a tragedy by weakening standards uniformly,” he said.

Members of the construction industry support the change because they say the overly burdensome code adoption process slows building and increases costs, feeding Hawaii’s housing supply issues. 

Hawaii is trying to resolve a housing shortage so dire that Gov. Josh Green declared the housing situation an emergency in July. Last renewed on Feb. 23, his proclamation stalls any updates to the state building codes “to allow for consistency and stability in the construction of housing.”

Hawaii uses the International Code Council’s codes — which are updated every three years — as its blueprint for building, residential and energy codes. The state’s code, created by the State Building Code Council, is the foundation for the county codes, which are then updated within two years after the state codes are put in place.

The counties have long said they are unable to keep up with a process they say is too fast and onerous, delaying the permitting process.

Lawmakers have considered bills intended to relax the code adoption process for at least the past five years but none have passed. Some have even proposed dissolving the State Building Code Council altogether.

The Senate killed a bill mirroring HB 2089 this year.

People are “starting to see through the idea that a non-government organization should dictate the pace of change to our building code cycle,” Greg Thielen of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii said.

Not all states follow the same cycle as Hawaii, and some leave the building codes to counties to decide their own processes.

The constant change in codes in Hawaii is creating “a perverse incentive to keep old housing stock,” Thielen said.

Hawaii’s chapter of the American Institute of Architects does not support the legislation despite being frustrated by the current situation. AIA President Reid Mizue says codes are issues for the counties to address rather than the state. 

It is fundamentally a safety issue, Mizue said, which as architects is “one of the main reasons we are licensed in the first place.”

Allowing the state to update its building codes according to every other ICC code update, along with another two years for the counties to update their own, means homes built in 2030 could be built to ICC’s 2021 code.

That was “absurd to think about,” Mizue said. 

Giving counties more time to catch up will provide the developers and construction outfits greater stability, Thielen said.

“I would rather see 15,000 new houses a year built on the 2006 code than 2,000 new houses a year built on the 2021,” Thielen said. “And I would make the argument that it’s much safer for the built environment of Oahu and Hawaii as a whole if you do things that way.”

The ICC, along with 24 other signatories, sent a letter to House and Senate leadership on Tuesday saying that changing the code would mean Hawaii’s residents would be “forced to pay new home prices for homes constructed to decade-old standards.”

Rep. Luke Evslin, chair of the Housing Committee, introduced HB 2089. He says, “it was never intended to be a permanent solution” but rather a stopgap.

“Our current process is broken,” Evslin said.

The bill initially attracted climate groups’ ire for also proposing an extension of updates to the energy code, which representatives removed over concerns it may compromise the state’s progress towards its climate goals.

Across the country builders’ associations are fighting against energy codes. In North Carolina, a bill partly drafted by the state builders’ association delayed any update to the state’s code until 2031, according to The Washington Post.

Environmental groups were somewhat appeased by the removal of the energy code, but members of the construction industry and developers want the code to be reinserted into the bill.

But Thielen said the BIA would support the bill with or without the inclusion of the energy code.

HB 2089 was transmitted to the Senate during Tuesday’s House floor session with four votes against it.

It’s unclear what the Senate intends to do. It will likely be referred to committee for senators to consider.

Sen. Stanley Chang, Housing Committee chair, said good points had been made for and against the bill.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.