The Honolulu Charter Commission is close to finalizing the charter amendment proposals voters could see on their ballots this November.
The commission first started fielding charter amendment proposals from the public in August 2025 and received nearly 300 submissions. That was narrowed down to 19 coming into a scheduled meeting on Monday.
The commission aims to finish working on the proposals this month.
One of the questions that can still make it onto ballots would ask voters to create a food security fund on Oʻahu. The proposal was a focus of many public testimonies during Monday's meeting, and could dedicate a portion of existing property tax revenue so the city could invest in food programs.
Proponents say a dedicated fund would help residents who have to decide to go without food or buy unhealthy food so that they can pay other bills.
“As the adage goes, ‘Rent eats first,’” said Hunter Heaivilin, the advocacy director for the Hawaiʻi Farmers Union, during the commission meeting. “The city has already had to make some tough decisions regarding its budget, recent cuts to the Office of Economic Revitalization, and likely impacts to the food-related programming it has provided are sure to come in the near future. A dedicated fund, however, keeps food from always being the thing that gets cut.”
The proposal currently says that the fund would share 2% of property tax revenues that are already being dedicated to a handful of special funds.
One of the more controversial proposals would give voters an opportunity to create an empty homes tax on Oʻahu — a controversial measure that has stalled at the Honolulu City Council.
The tax would fund affordable housing projects by taxing unoccupied homes owned by investors.
Commissioner Gerald “Trey” Gordner voted in favor of the proposal.
“There's demand for housing on Oʻahu from the people who live here and would like to live here full time, and from people who do not live here and would prefer to reserve and use those housing units for other purposes,” Gordner said at the commission meeting. “And the key point is that over time, locals are increasingly at a purchasing power disadvantage.”
He added, “The policy rationale for … charging the people the actual cost that they're imposing on the community by keeping these units off of the market also makes sense.”
Another proposal would give additional powers to the Honolulu Police Commission over the Honolulu Police Department.
There have been calls for years to change how the Police Commission operates so that it could more properly oversee the police department.
The key revisions in the charter proposal include giving the City Council the ability to choose some of the police commissioners, giving the commission more authority to address police misconduct, and the creation of an Office of Civilian Police Investigations — an investigative arm of the commission.
