Hawaii's construction industry is throwing its weight behind a November ballot question that developers say could finally chip away at the sky-high cost of building homes across the islands. Question 2 would amend the state constitution to let counties issue RISE bonds — Resilient Infrastructure for Shelter and Equity bonds — for roads, bridges and water systems without those debts counting against strict county borrowing limits.
As reported by Hawaii News Now, developer Stanford Carr said front-loading the required infrastructure costs on a project could bankrupt him, a blunt admission of just how heavy those upfront expenses can be. Under the current system, housing developers have had to pay for new roads, bridges and water systems upfront, per the same report, often folding those costs directly into home prices — as is the case with the Farrington Highway widening project, which the Hoopili developer is paying for and which is folded into the cost of Hoopili homes, according to the station's report.
RISE bonds would flip that model. Instead of developers eating the cost before a single home is sold, tax-free bonds would be repaid from future property taxes generated by new homes and businesses within an improvement district, the outlet notes. Andrew Perreira said government-financed infrastructure could lower housing costs by about 30 percent, and Carr added that less expensive financing will create jobs, housing and needed infrastructure, per the report.
How Question 2 Reached the Ballot
The measure isn't a fringe idea — it cleared the Hawaii Legislature with total bipartisan consensus, passing 25-0 in the state Senate and 50-0 in the state House, after state Sen. Troy Hashimoto introduced Senate Bill 3219 in January, according to Ballotpedia News. Lawmakers agreed to put the constitutional amendment on the ballot for voter approval, a step that formally amends Article VII, Sections 12 and 13 of the state constitution to exempt RISE bonds from the rule limiting total county debt to 15% of assessed property valuations.
The idea traces back further than this year's session. The initiative grew out of recommendations from the Hawaii Transit-Oriented Development Infrastructure Financing and Delivery Strategy Study, which specifically highlighted using tax increments from high-value real estate areas to subsidize infrastructure in lower-income areas of need, according to the Hawaii State Legislature. Backers say RISE bonds could generate billions for new infrastructure, and one specific project floated as a potential beneficiary is the Aloha Stadium and Entertainment and Housing District, per Hawaii News Now's reporting.
Industry Muscle and Watchdog Warnings
The General Contractors Association of Hawaii named SB 3219 a top priority for its 2026 legislative agenda, arguing that front-loaded infrastructure costs represent the single largest bottleneck stalling housing construction across the islands, according to the General Contractors Association of Hawaii. The group has stressed that RISE bonds provide necessary capital without raising baseline property tax rates. A political action committee called Rise Together Hawaii, formed by a coalition of development groups, has released commercials promoting RISE bonds and claims they will make housing more affordable, per Hawaii News Now.
But not everyone is convinced the risk is zero. The Tax Foundation of Hawaii submitted testimony opposing the amendment, warning that if a real estate development fails to generate expected tax growth, local governments remain on the hook to repay the bonds — shifting financial liability to taxpayers, according to Ballotpedia News. Lawmakers were reassured that taxpayers would not be responsible if a development fails, with proponents maintaining debt service would be drawn solely from district-level property tax growth, though the Tax Foundation's warning stands in direct tension with that assurance.
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii has raised separate concerns, citing a 2019 Brookings Institution study showing tax increment financing fails to boost employment growth and arguing that Hawaii's already-high real estate values diminish the tool's effectiveness, according to the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. The institute has contended that constitutional debt caps exist specifically to protect local taxpayers from speculative infrastructure debt.
A Housing Market Still Climbing
The stakes are underscored by the numbers. Statewide, single-family homes reached a median price of $950,000 in 2025, led by Maui County at $1,175,000 and Honolulu County at $1,110,000, according to the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization's 2026 Housing Factbook. Honolulu County also posted the state's highest median monthly rent at $2,083 in 2024, per the same report.
Those prices kept climbing into this year. Honolulu's median single-family home resale price rose 2.6%, or $30,000, year-over-year to $1,180,000 in the first quarter of 2026, even as foreign buyer purchases dropped 28%, according to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The department also noted overall local buyer activity softened slightly by 1.2% during the same quarter.
The Ballot Fatigue Problem
Even with unanimous legislative backing, Question 2 faces a steep procedural hurdle unrelated to its policy merits. Carr said the amendment is complicated, per Hawaii News Now, and Oahu voters will confront it alongside 20 proposed Honolulu city charter amendments on the same ballot. That crowded ballot raises the risk of voter fatigue leading to blank votes on Oahu, the outlet reports.
Those blank votes carry real legal weight. Colin Moore said blank ballots count against passage because Hawaii requires a majority of all votes cast, not just those who answer the question, according to Hawaii News Now. That mirrors the state's constitutional “two-test” rule, which requires a proposed amendment to win a simple majority of votes cast on the question and also receive yes votes equal to at least 50% of all ballots cast in the general election, according to the State of Hawaii Office of Elections. Historical Hawaii ballot measure campaigns have failed despite majority yes votes among answered questions because blank ballots inflated the total votes cast.
Aware of that risk, the campaign behind the amendment plans to aggressively educate registered voters about what Question 2 actually does, according to Hawaii News Now. Question 2 arrives alongside other housing finance efforts moving through Hawaii's Legislature this year, including HB 2049, which restructures the state's conveyance tax to direct $40 million annually toward municipal infrastructure and $60 million to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, according to the Hawaii State Legislature. That measure also reduced conveyance taxes on median-priced homes while raising rates on high-value property sales, part of a broader push lawmakers hope will finally move the needle on the state's housing costs.
