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GM 1204

Informing the Legislature that on June 5, 2026, the Governor signed the following bill into law: SB2673 SD1 HD1 CD1 (ACT 104).

2026 Regular Session

Hawaii will standardize and publicly publish monthly machine-readable building permit data across counties to enable cross-county comparisons and better housing and energy developm

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Bill Summary · GM 1204

Summary of GM 1204 (SB 2673, SD1, HD1, CD1) — Hawaii, 2026

Main purpose and intent

  • Establish a statewide, standardized framework for publishing and sharing building and civil engineering permit data across Hawaii’s counties.
  • Improve transparency, comparability, and timeliness of permitting data to support housing development, renewable energy projects, and economic growth.
  • Respond to findings from the governor’s housing initiative and related task forces about inconsistent data standards and challenging data access.

Key provisions and changes

  1. ** statewide permitting data standard (new statutory framework)**

    • Creates a formal statewide standard for building permit data, to be developed by the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development (OPSD) in collaboration with the Chief Data Officer (CDO) and county permitting agencies.
    • The standard must define required fields, data types, formats, and acceptable values; include both “required” fields (c) and “optional but supportive” fields (d) to enable analysis of timelines and delays.

  2. Monthly, machine-readable permit data publication ( counties)

    • Each county must publish a publicly accessible dataset of all building and civil engineering permit applications on its website.
    • Datasets must be updated at least monthly and published in machine-readable formats (e.g., CSV or JSON).
    • A data dictionary must accompany the dataset, defining fields and coded values.

  3. Minimum data fields for cross-county comparability

    • Required fields (examples include): PermitNum, Description, AppliedDate, IssuedDate, CompletedDate, StatusCurrent, OriginalAddress (street, city, state, ZIP), Jurisdiction, PermitClass, StatusCurrentMapped, WorkClass, PermitType, StatusDate, TotalSqFt, URL, Latitude/Longitude, EstProjectCost, HousingUnits, Parcel ID (PIN), Contractor details, and related fields.
    • Additional fields to support statewide measurement of timelines and delays (e.g., AcceptedDate, PermittingAgency, FinalDisposition, FinalDispositionDate, HoldDate) if the county’s systems capture them.

  4. Standardized values and crosswalks (interoperability)

    • Counties must provide crosswalks mapping county-specific values to standardized statewide values.
    • Counties appoint a permitting data liaison and supply documentation to map local codes to standardized terms.

  5. Statewide permitting data standard development and timeline

    • OPSD and CDO must publish and manage the statewide standard by January 1, 2027.
    • Counties must comply with the standard by January 1, 2027.

  6. Reporting to the Legislature

    • OPSD and CDO must prepare and submit a report with findings, the standard, implementation process, barriers, and recommended actions no later than 20 days before the 2027 regular legislative session.

Who is affected

  • County permitting agencies: required to publish monthly datasets, adopt the statewide standard, provide crosswalks, and appoint data liaisons.
  • State offices (OPSD and CDO): responsible for developing the statewide standard, coordinating with counties, and producing a consolidated report.
  • Public and stakeholders: enhanced access to permit data in machine-readable, standardized form, enabling easier analysis, benchmarking, and transparency.

Procedural and timeline aspects

  • Effective date: Upon approval (June 5, 2026).
  • Key deadline for standard: January 1, 2027 for publication and compliance.
  • Legislative reporting: A comprehensive report due no later than 20 days before the 2027 regular session.
  • Implementation considerations: The act requires coordination, technical mapping, and addressing barriers such as technology constraints and staffing.

Potential impact

  • Short-term: Counties begin mapping disparate permit data to a common standard; initial data dictionaries and crosswalks are developed.
  • Medium-term: Improved cross-county comparability, reduced ad hoc data requests, enhanced consumer and developer access to permit information, and better measurement of delays attributable to applicants versus agencies.
  • Long-term: Data-driven policy and administrative improvements to housing production, renewable energy permitting, and economic development statewide.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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