End burdensome school impact fees, put funds to good use

In a 1970 campaign speech, then-Lt. Gov. Tom Gill warned that the housing legislation of that era would be “a bonanza for developers” and not “necessarily produce any substantial amount of low-priced housing.”

Fifty years later, soaring home prices are pushing more families to move away, and there is an urgent need for thousands of new units to be added to our housing stock every year just to catch up with demand. The cost of developing new units in Hawaiʻi is especially high, and lawmakers today are looking at a number of creative ways to increase inventory through nontraditional means, such as accessory dwelling units.

Bringing the overall cost of development down is critical to meet demand, and one way to help is by eliminating costly and ineffective school impact fees. House Bill 422, which is being considered this year by the Legislature, would do just that.

Established in 2007, Hawaiʻi’s school impact fees were intended to fund the construction and renovation of public schools in areas where population growth was expected to create the need for one or more new schools or the expansion of existing ones. More than $21 million has been collected since then—yet none of this revenue has been spent. Instead, the money has simply accumulated, benefiting no one.