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.
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.
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.on a six-year cycle, which he now says he believes was just a “Band Aid” for a larger problem. The bill died. 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.
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