Hawaii ballot measure · November 3, 2026
Hawaii Question 2, explained
County RISE bonds for housing infrastructure, outside county debt limits. A ballot measure is a yes-or-no question put directly to voters — no candidate is involved, and the wording on the ballot is the wording that becomes law. This page shows that wording first, then what it actually changes.
The official wording
QUESTION #2: Directing the Hawaii State Legislature to Establish Procedures for Counties to Issue RISE Bonds, Exempt from County Debt Limits. Shall the Hawaii State Constitution be amended to direct the legislature to authorize the counties to issue resilient infrastructure for shelter and equity bonds to fund public improvements in designated districts, repaid solely by future growth in property tax revenues within those districts, not by increasing real property tax rates, where such bonds are excluded from the counties' debt limit and are subject to accountability and oversight requirements as may be provided by law?
This is what appears on the ballot. Everything below explains it.
What it actually means
Roads, water lines and other infrastructure for new housing are usually paid for up front by the developer, and that cost ends up in the price of the homes. This amendment would let counties borrow for that work instead, and repay the borrowing only out of the extra property tax the new development generates inside a defined district — a version of what is known elsewhere as tax increment financing. Those bonds would not count against a county's debt limit. Property tax rates could not be raised to repay them. A companion law, Senate Bill 3218, sets up the framework and takes effect only if voters approve.
If you vote YES
- The Legislature would be directed to authorise counties to issue resilient infrastructure for shelter and equity (RISE) bonds for public works, public improvements and community development in districts the county designates.
- The bonds would be repaid solely from the growth in real property tax revenue inside the district — the tax on assessed value above what the district was worth before the improvements — and not from an increase in property tax rates.
- RISE bonds would be excluded from the calculation of a county's funded debt, so issuing them would not use up a county's borrowing capacity.
- Senate Bill 3218, which sets out the framework, would take effect; the constitution would also define "community development" as capital projects that advance a community's values, culture and vision, limited to capital assets and not operating expenses.
- Accountability and oversight requirements would be whatever the Legislature provides by law.
If you vote NO
- Counties could not issue RISE bonds, and Senate Bill 3218 would not take effect.
- Infrastructure for new housing would continue to be paid for as it is now — largely up front by developers, or through ordinary county borrowing that counts against the county debt limit, or from general funds.
- The constitution's list of exclusions from county funded debt would be unchanged.
- A similar tax increment bond amendment was proposed in the 2023 session and never reached the 2024 ballot, so the status quo would continue.
Why supporters say YES
We found none published in the sources reviewed.
Why opponents say NO
We found none published in the sources reviewed.
What’s genuinely uncertain
- No committee has registered on either side and Ballotpedia has located no campaign or endorsements in opposition, so no arguments are presented on either side rather than showing one column and not the other. Supporters include the Hawai'i Association of Realtors, the NAIOP Hawaii chapter, the amendment's sponsor Sen. Troy Hashimoto (D-5) and other senators; developer Stanford Carr and Andrew Perreira of Pacific Resource Partnership have argued publicly that financing infrastructure this way could lower the cost of housing substantially.
- The claim that this lowers housing costs by about 30 percent comes from campaign advocates, not from a state fiscal analysis; no official estimate of the effect on housing prices, county revenues or bond costs was located.
- Almost all of the detail — which districts qualify, what oversight applies, how long a district lasts — is left to implementing legislation and to Senate Bill 3218.
- The question is long and technical, and because a blank vote counts against a Hawaii amendment, a voter who skips it effectively votes no. Oahu voters also face a large number of Honolulu City Charter questions on the same ballot.
- The amendment passed the Senate 25-0 and the House 50-0, so the legislative record contains almost no dissent from which to draw a case against.
The bottom line
Whether counties should be able to borrow for housing infrastructure against the future property tax growth it produces, outside their normal debt limits, rather than leaving that cost with developers and in the price of new homes.
One neutral sentence describing the tradeoff — not a recommendation.
Checking it against the official text
The Hawaii Office of Elections publishes the certified measures and, in most states, an official voter guide with fiscal notes. That is the authoritative version. Everything here is an explanation of it, not a substitute for it.
Confirm this with the official source
Your ballot is determined by your election authority, not by us. Verify your registration, precinct, and sample ballot at Hawaii Office of Elections.