Bill > HB356

This bill requires all newly constructed single-family homes and apartment buildings in Hawaii to be built to more stringent hurricane-resistance standards based on their geographical wind levels, with the goal of improving infrastructure resilience against increasingly powerful hurricanes. Specifically, buildings located within the "one hundred thirty miles per hour wind level" must be constructed to withstand at least a category three hurricane and include a residential safe room with an attached bathroom, while buildings in areas with wind levels of one hundred forty miles per hour or higher must be built to withstand at least a category five hurricane with the same safe room requirements. The bill is motivated by climate change research indicating that warmer ocean temperatures are increasing the potential for more powerful hurricanes in the Pacific, and findings that Hawaii's current infrastructure is highly vulnerable, with approximately 187,000 wooden homes likely to be damaged or destroyed even in a category one hurricane. The legislation will take effect on January 1, 2026, and prevents county governments from adopting building codes that conflict with these new hurricane protection standards, effectively making these requirements a statewide mandate for new residential construction.

Housing and Urban Affairs

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=356&year=2026