Vote NO on Question 2 | 2026 Constitutional Amendment
Ballots are in the mail, and Question 2 is the one most people will skim and guess on. It asks whether counties should be allowed to sell “RISE” bonds, short for resilient infrastructure for shelter and equity:
“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?”
The Libertarian Party of Hawaiʻi urges a No vote. We read the full amendment, SB3219 HD3 CD1, and it does not match the ballot question voters will see.
The ballot says the bonds will be paid back from growth in property tax revenue, not higher tax rates. It also says they come with accountability and oversight. In the amendment itself, the “no higher rates” promise is missing. It appears only in the findings at the front of the bill, which are not part of the constitutional amendment. The words “accountability” and “oversight” do not appear are also missing from the amendment. The ballot says only that such rules may be provided by law, so a future legislature could decide to write none.
The biggest change is the debt limit. Hawaiʻi’s constitution caps county debt at 15 percent of a county’s assessed property value. Question 2 adds RISE bonds to the list of debt that does not count toward that cap. Other bonds on the list count as excluded only to the extent they are actually repaid from their dedicated source, and the bill’s findings say the same will hold for RISE bonds. The amendment itself drops that condition and excludes the bonds outright. It sets no ceiling, requires no public vote and has no expiration date.
Supporters say the money comes from new development, but the findings also say it comes from rising values of existing properties in the district. If your home gains value inside one of these districts, the tax on that gain goes to bondholders instead of the county budget. Those costs stay while the revenue is spoken for. The Tax Foundation of Hawaiʻi warned that if a development does not deliver as advertised, the government remains on the hook. The amendment is silent on what happens to a county’s budget and credit when a district falls short. Hawaiʻi Public Radio reports that tax increment bonds in Paradise, California defaulted after a wildfire destroyed much of the town in 2018.
The campaign for Question 2 is selling something much smaller than the amendment. It is run by RISE Together Hawaiʻi, a committee that Pacific Resource Partnership formed in August. PRP is a consortium of the Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters and more than 250 contractors who employ them. Its ads, “Next Time” and “Road Between,”show crumbling roads, old bridges and pipes, and a young mother driving over potholes to deliver medicine to hospice patients. The amendment allows any public works, public improvements, or “other actions necessary for housing and community development,” and it defines community development to include buying land and buildings for projects that advance “a community’s values, culture, and vision.” Civil Beat notes the financing could also go to dams and power facilities, with a nod toward cellular service. The ads also never mention the Honolulu rail line, even though lawmakers pointed to development around the rail as the reason for the bill.
The committee, “RISE Together Hawaiʻi” has raised $1.8 million, with $1.5 million from the carpenters’ union and the rest from Operating Engineers Local 3, the Hawaiʻi Realtors PAC and the Hawaiʻi Laborers Union PAC. The people paying for the ads build housing, roads and bridges for a living. Hawaii News Now reported that the measure covers roads, bridges and water systems that housing developers have until now paid for upfront.
The legislature’s study recommended passing this amendment first and then loosening the existing tax increment laws. That would allow districts that are not connected, let money from wealthier areas pay for projects elsewhere, and capture some state-level tax revenue. The ballot leaves most of the critical details out of the question presented. Voters are being asked to approve the first step of a plan even though the later steps sit in the bill’s findings rather than the actual statute.
Counties already have the ability to do this kind of financing, but the attorney general says the constitution needed a change first. The debt limit is written into the constitution, and a statute can’t override it. Housing in Hawaiʻi is expensive because of slow permits, restrictive zoning, layered land use rules and the compliance costs that follow. Counties can resolve every one of those issues better without a constitutional amendment or a bond.
Vote No on Question 2
The governor and the county mayors are all urging a Yes vote, while Chairman Austin Martin suggests changing zoning laws instead of borrowing, calling it “a free and practical approach”.They are asking voters to exempt county borrowing from the limit that constrains it, based on a ballot summary that promises oversight the amendment does not contain. Vote No on Question 2. Ballots must be received by 7:00 p.m. on November 3.
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