The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the House Committee on Housing on Feb. 4, 2026.
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Feb. 4, 2026, 9 a.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 430and Videoconference
To: House Committee on Housing
Rep. Luke Evslin, Chair
Rep. Tyson Miyake, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF HB1721 — RELATING TO HOUSING
Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and other members of the Committee,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports HB1721, which would clarify liability rules for professionals participating in the self-certification program established by Act 295 (2025).
This self-certification program has the opportunity to streamline the permitting process for single-family and multifamily homes. In it, licensed architects and engineers would be able to sign off on their own permits if the county permitting agency does not approve them within a certain time frame.
Streamlining this process is critical because Hawaii suffers from chronic permitting delays, which were reported by the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai‘i to have been 188 days for single-family homes and 410 days for multifamily homes, on average, over the last five years.[1]
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
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[1] Daniela Bond-Smith, Trey Gordner, Rachel Inafuku, et al., “The Hawaii Housing Factbook 2025,” Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai‘i, May 14, 2025, p. 27.
