A month after wildfires ravaged Maui in August 2023, Gov. Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation to postpone the adoption of any new building codes that might exacerbate a housing shortage that had just gotten worse.
The governor’s office is now moving to fast-track adoption of new codes and bring Hawaii into compliance with the latest national building standards as the state and counties have struggled to keep up with the pace of change.
The administration’s move comes as Hawaii contends with both the ever-present risk of devastating natural disasters, which vigorous building codes can mitigate, and a 50,000-unit housing shortage, which they can exacerbate due to a higher cost of compliance.
There was a key, unintended consequence of Green’s 2023 proclamation: it also put the State Building Code Council, which is tasked with updating construction regulations, on hiatus.
That inadvertently resulted in the state adopting an unamended version of the regulations formulated by the International Code Council, whose sweeping codes inform jurisdictions nationwide, from Montana to Puerto Rico. That means they include things Hawaii doesn’t need to worry about, like snow.
Unwittingly stuck with building codes that don’t work fit construction in today’s Hawaii, Green’s administration is now trying to fast-track adoption of building codes developed in 2024.
In the meantime, Green’s most recent proclamation stated that the counties would not have to abide by the 2021 code.
To prepare the state code council to adopt revisions based on the 2024 recommendations, the governor’s team will be joined by two soon-to-be-hired technical advisors.
By pre-drafting those code amendments, “we hope to streamline the code adoption process for the counties and the State Building Code Council — when it is reinstated — so that they can better focus on their own particular priorities and building code requirements,” said Scott Glenn, Green’s senior housing advisor.
The administration’s move to effectively skip the 2021 code gives some development and construction industry advocates what they want, as the code cycle has been cited as a problem by several building industry representatives for years.
The cycle calls for the state to update its code every three years, which the counties then have to amend and adopt within two years.
“The three-year cycle is way too fast. Nobody is keeping up with it. I don’t think it makes sense,” said Geena Thielen of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii.
“Our building code process, from top to bottom, is broken,” she said.
Building codes regulate and dictate standards for everything from wall construction, electrical sockets and water pressure, to disaster-related regulations, which include using hurricane clips that lash roofs down to stay secure during high winds.
But code adoption has long been a contentious issue in housing circles, as opinions differ on how to strike a balance between ensuring public safety and keeping codes updated while streamlining housing development.
And there has been broad recognition of a need to reform the building code process, either by hiring staff to serve the State Building Code Council or slowing the cycle of code adoption.
Rep. Luke Evslin in 2024 introduced a bill to allow the state to adopt every other ICC code on a six-year cycle, which he now says he believes was just a “Band Aid” for a larger problem. The bill died.
The local chapter of the American Institute for Architects is concerned similar legislation might appear in the 2025 session, though Evslin said he does not plan to reintroduce his measure.
AIA Hawaii president Reid Mizue says skipping code cycles would be “disastrous” for Hawaii, especially given recent natural disasters on the mainland and the 2023 Maui fires that destroyed more than 2,200 structures and killed 102 people.
“We do not like the idea that they have skipped over 2021 and that shouldn’t happen as we move forward,” Mizue said.
The Building Industry Association, along with other construction, housing and development organizations, has supported the extended cycle because the counties have been struggling to keep up.
“The State Building Code Council has absolutely failed to do what it was intended to do when it was created — to provide a uniform building code for Hawaii,” Thielen said.
Kauai County only recently adopted the 2018 State Building Code, while other counties have also struggled and skipped over iterations of the state code.
Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, director of the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, says it makes sense to reevaluate the code adoption cycle to create a process that is more “manageable and efficient” for the public and private sectors.
The governor’s pause on code development has given Apuna’s staff a reprieve to focus more on processing applications, she said.
The codes are designed and developed to build on each other in accordance with research and recent events, such as wildfires or hurricanes, as well as what Karl Fippinger of the International Code Council calls the “quantum leaps in technology” occurring nationwide.
Those technologies include solar panels, batteries and energy storage systems, said Fippinger, ICC’s vice president of fire and disaster mitigation.
“Prior to 2018, building and fire codes were largely silent on this technology,” Fippinger said. “In 2024, we now have entire sections and chapters of the codes devoted to these technologies. A six-year code cycle denies communities the opportunity to incorporate these advancements safely into our homes, businesses, schools and critical infrastructure.”
But the three-year cycle may be too short for a voluntary council that relies on 13 members from the counties, state and industry. There is a similar lack of manpower at the county level.
When lawmakers created the State Building Code Council in 2007, it included the roles of executive director and an assistant as part of the legislation, but those positions have never been funded.
Mizue would like to see them funded during the next legislative session.
Thielen of the Building Industry Association says that if the code council positions are funded, then the state code should be done away with and the council should advise the counties “so they’re not left to sink or swim.”
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This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.