How school impact district fees and land must be used

[Repeal and reenactment on July 1, 2029. L 2025, c 268, §14.] (a) Each designated school impact district shall be a separate benefit district. Fees collected within each school impact district shall be spent only within the same school impact district for the purposes collected. (b) Land dedicated by the developer shall be used only as a site for the construction of one or more new schools or for the expansion of existing school facilities. If the land is never used for the school facility, it shall be returned to the developer, or the developer's successor in interest. Once used, the land may be sold, with the proceeds used to acquire land for school facilities in the same school impact district. (c) If the land is not used for a school facility within twenty years of its dedication, it shall be returned to the developer, or the developer's successor in interest. (d) Once used for school facilities, all or part of the land may be later sold. Proceeds from the sale shall be used for land acquisition for school facilities in the same school impact district. (e) Fee in lieu funds may be used for school site land acquisition and related expenses, including surveying, appraisals, and legal fees. With the exception of urban Honolulu, fee in lieu funds shall not be used for the maintenance or operation of existing schools in the district; planning, design, engineering, grading, construction, construction and project management, architectural, permitting, or financing costs; or for administrative expenses. (f) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, fee in lieu funds from projects within a county-designated transit oriented development zone may also be used to purchase completed construction, construct new school facilities in new or existing school sites, improve or renovate existing structures for school use, or lease land or facilities for school use within a county-designated transit oriented development zone. (g) Notwithstanding subsection (e), in urban Honolulu, fee in lieu funds may be used to purchase completed construction, construct new school facilities, improve or renovate existing structures for school use, or lease land or facilities for school use. (h) Fees in lieu, proceeds from the sale of all or part of an existing school site that has been dedicated by a developer pursuant to the requirements of this subpart shall be expended or encumbered within twenty years of the date of collection. Fees shall be considered spent or encumbered on a first-in, first-out basis. (i) As used in this section, "urban Honolulu" means the Kalihi to Ala Moana school impact district.