HB1247 Summary

• Exempts new construction housing development projects from Hawaii Environmental Policy Act (HEPA) requirements if the project is consistent with existing county general plans and zoning, uses only state/county lands or funds as the trigger, and does not require variances for environmentally sensitive areas.

• Defines "program" and "project" to narrow court interpretations requiring developers to analyze tangentially related projects; clarifies that shared infrastructure or similar uses do not automatically create a program requiring combined environmental review.

• Establishes that multiple actions must be treated as a single action only when component actions are interdependent phases, one action is a necessary precedent, one represents commitment to a larger action, or actions are essentially identical.

• Requires project opponents who provided written comments during environmental review to exhaust administrative remedies before filing judicial challenges, limiting contestable issues to those identified in their written comments.

• Applies amendments retroactively to projects that received environmental assessment or impact statement approval on or after August 9, 2019.