SB 1200 Hawaii Senate · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO WORKFORCE HOUSING.

Summary

Establishes the Workforce Housing Regulatory Sandbox Program within the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation. Establishes an Advisory Council within the Workforce Housing Regulatory Sandbox Program to advise on environmental and cultural practices within specific developments. Establishes a position. Requires annual reports to the Legislature. Appropriates funds. Repeals 6/30/2030. (SD1)

Issues: ✓ Housing

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Feb 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SB1200 → SB1200_SD1 · 7 edits

MODERATE

This bill revision updates the bill's title and authors to reflect a Senate Draft version, adjusts the timeline for legislative findings, and modifies the definition of 'housing shortage' to replace 'housing crisis' in several sections. The most significant substantive change is the expansion of the newly created Advisory Council, which now includes representatives from the public housing authority, community development authority, office of planning, and each county, alongside existing members.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding the Advisory Council's composition was expanded to include additional state and local representatives, broadening the range of perspectives involved in overseeing the regulatory sandbox program.

TECHNICAL

The bill title and author names were updated to reflect the Senate Draft (SD1) version.

Dates and version numbers in the header metadata were updated to reflect the new draft status.

The summary description at the end of the document was updated to reflect the addition of the new FTE position.

DEFINITION

The term 'housing crisis' was consistently changed to 'housing shortage' throughout the legislative findings and purpose sections.

REQUIREMENT

The Advisory Council composition was expanded to include new members representing the Hawaii public housing authority, community development authority, office of planning and sustainable development, and one representative from each county.

The Advisory Council membership list was renumbered to accommodate the new positions, shifting the original 'other members' category to item 12.

FISCAL

The appropriation section was updated to explicitly include funding for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) position to support the program.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 12, 2025

Upper · Passed

Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM.

upper

Feb 12, 2025

Committee

Reported from HOU (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 334) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Feb 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on HOU recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in HOU were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Chang, Hashimoto, Kanuha, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Aquino.

upper

Jan 31, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on HOU has scheduled a public hearing on 02-04-25 1:00PM; Conference Room 225 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 27, 2025

Committee

Referred to HOU, WAM.

upper

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Introduced.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors