Episode 203: Maui Building Permit Series 1 of 3: SPEED Task Force - what the what? with Dr. Jennifer Salisbury
Summary
They say that 80% of success is just getting in the room. Well, somehow I got myself into the room. Early 2025 I was confirmed by the Hawaii State Legislature to serve as a board member for the Governor’s Small Business Regulatory Review Board - this is a nerdy board that reviews rule changes for Hawaii small businesses. Perfect for me, the biggest nerd in the State. But then, Hawaii Governor Green wanted to improve the building permit status, especially with Hawaii being one of THE WORST places to obtain a building permit in the United States. He produced legislation creating a Task Force to Streamline Permitting for Enhanced Economic Development (or SPEED). One seat on that Task Force is for the nerdy board I’m on, and well, I’m on the Task Force. Today, I’m giving you the 101 version of this board I am on and what this Permitting Task Force is all about.
Links:
Hawaii Small Business Regulatory Review Board
Task Force Legislation created by: Act 133 (SLH 2025) and House Concurrent Resolution No. 157
Task Force Presentation from Chair Ilagan: Task Force Orientation
Hawaii SPEED Task Force and committees
Listen to the full episode :
This Week’s Blog Post:
Welcome to My Life As A Landlord, where we educate curious US and Canadian landlords, answer rental questions, and clear up confusions about all things housing. I'm your host, Doctor Jennifer Salisbury. The next three episodes are bringing you up to speed with literally the SPEED Task Force. This is the first of a series of three episodes designed to educate you on what special group I've got myself involved with.
How I Got Involved with State Boards
Mike and I have both been serving our home, the state of Hawaii, in various ways. I have been on the board of Construction Industry of Maui, the Maui Chamber of Commerce, and the board of Maui United Way. Leading up to the August 2023 fires that occurred in both Kula and Lahaina, I was already just about halfway through my term with Maui United Way. I had been invited to apply to express interest to a state board focused on small business called the Small Business Regulatory Review Board. After the fires, the Secretary of the board of Maui United Way stepped off immediately because she was a part of Maui Electric, and the optics didn't look good. I stepped in as the board secretary and ended up going through two legislation sessions before finally being confirmed early in 2025.
What is the SPEED Task Force?
The SPEED Task Force emerged during the 2025 legislative session. SPEED is an acronym that stands for Simplifying Permitting for Enhanced Economic Development. The goal of the SPEED Task Force was basically to figure out a way that you could streamline the task force and implement accountability tracking. One of the seats of the task force was to be coming from the Small Business Regulatory Review Board, and that's me. In August of 2025, there was a presentation given by Representative Gregor Ilagan from the state legislature about the SPEED Task Force. The first meeting was set for September 11th, 2025 at the state Capitol, and the Small Business Regulatory Review Board paid for my flights and Ubers to attend in person.
Who's on the Task Force?
There are 34 people on the task force, and most everyone is on Oahu by far. There's only three of us on the task force from Maui, and I'm the only contractor representing small businesses in the state. Out of the 34 task force members, you've got six elected officials, 17 staff members—which makes staff members half of the task force—and only six building permit applicants or developers, which is only 20% or 18% as the actual customers of whatever we're trying to fix. There is a lack of contractors, there is a lack of burial councils, there's nobody representing the Hawaiian people, and there's no descendants of the Hawaiians represented in this. I wanted to make sure that I was at the table, I wanted Maui to have a voice, and I wanted small business in general to have a voice.
The Three PIGs (Permitted Interaction Groups)
The first breakout of what they call Permitted Interaction Groups, known as a PIG—I hate that name, it's ridiculous, it's a committee—there's three PIGs: one for building permits, one for Chapter Six which is historic preservation or known as State Historic Preservation District, and the last one is from Department of Health for individual wastewater systems which is septics. I served on all three PIGs because the whole reason that I'm on this task force is, are these people serious? Are they wanting to take on the task of this and actually figuring something out? I submitted 20 recommendations out of a total of 80, so I was very active because I wanted small business and Maui to be involved in this. I also looked at where in the world were they fighting the same fight, or did they already fight it and win, like Long Island, New York fighting cesspool conversions just like Hawaii.
My Commitment and What's Next
To date, since November 11th, I've spent just under 40 hours in meetings for the task force, and outside of that just under 20 hours, so 60 hours combined for non-official meetings. I've had 41 conversations and done 20 recommendations to the task force. My philosophy on all of this is that in the event this task force results in no action, nothing, it won't be because I didn't try. The task force goes throughout 2026 with the whole idea to have six task force meetings and two more rounds of three PIGs each, so there'll be a total of nine PIGs. If you want to be on my monthly updates, just email me at learn at mylifeasalandlord.com and let me know. Real estate takes you places. Where do you want real estate to take you?