A repeatedly stymied state plan to redevelop Aloha Stadium is once again in danger of upheaval.

The state House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to scuttle the redevelopment project in favor of building a less costly stadium on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus.

Under House Bill 2664, $400 million in previously approved taxpayer funding to redevelop Aloha Stadium in Halawa through a public-­private partnership under a pending solicitation for competitive bids would be canceled, and $211 million would instead be appropriated for UH to build a new stadium on its flagship campus.

State administrators involved in the Aloha Stadium project oppose the bill, as does the university’s chief financial officer.

Still, a majority of House members decided to pass the bill Tuesday on a 35-14 vote that will send the measure to the Senate for consideration. Four of the favorable votes were made with reservations, and two House members were excused.

Rep. Andrew Garrett (D, Manoa), the bill’s lead introducer, said Tuesday in a floor speech that his motivation is partly to reclaim previously appropriated funding to help pay for much higher-­than-expected Maui wildfire recovery costs and partly to give the university in his district assurance that it will have a stadium for football games.

“Everything must be on the table as we decide how to salvage our financial plan for this supplemental year. … In this type of fiscal emergency, there can be no sacred cows,” he told his colleagues.

Garrett also said the proposed change would allow the Halawa site to perhaps be redeveloped more with affordable housing.

A few dissenting House members who spoke against the bill on the floor Tuesday said it would undermine the state’s ability to do business with private partners, and swap a centralized site on Oahu that can support a stadium for many uses with an inferior site with use limitations.

“The UH location is a loser,” said Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley).

If the bill becomes law, it would upend an effort that has been in the works for close to a decade and endured prior abrupt changes to financing and partnership arrangements that have added time and expense to the project known as the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District.

Critics of the latest proposal said enacting the bill would waste years of work and about $25 million already spent on the rede­velopment plan, while impairing envisioned development of a new community on the 98-acre Halawa site featuring several thousand homes, retail, restaurants, a hotel and other commercial uses next to a city rail station anchored by a new, roughly 30,000-seat stadium.

Keith Regan, director of the state Department of Accounting and General Serv­ices, warned that enacting the bill could expose the state to claims from development and finance entities who have devoted resources to the project’s procurement, while also damaging the state’s ability to replace the decaying 50,000-seat stadium in Halawa whose stands were condemned in 2020.

The Stadium Authority and the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism also oppose the bill.

Ryan Andrews, stadium manager, questioned the feasibility of trying to develop a mixed-use community on the stadium site in Halawa without a new stadium there.

“The combination of the new stadium as an anchor asset along with a vital, mixed-use district is the optimal leveraging tool for economic and community revitalization to provide the most benefit to the people of Hawaii,” he said in written testimony.

Questions also have been raised over whether UH Manoa, which converted a practice field on campus into a temporary game venue with seating for 15,000 fans, can accommodate a bigger and better stadium for its own use and perhaps other uses.

Kalbert Young, UH chief financial officer, said the university prefers the plan to build a new stadium in Halawa that is supposed to be ready in 2028 for uses that include UH football, high school football and graduations, professional sports such as soccer, swap meets, concerts and other events.

“We don’t want the money and we don’t want the stadium,” he told the House Finance Committee during a Feb. 21 hearing. “Stadiums are very expensive to maintain, and the revenue streams are very difficult. … Taking that on for the University of Hawaii is not our dream.”

Manoa was considered as the site for a new stadium in a 2019 assessment of 18 potential locations that included Aala Park, Sand Island, Koko Head Crater and Waipio Peninsula.

Out of six sites that scored the best on factors that included cost, infrastructure, economic benefit, environmental impact, community acceptance and political viability, UH Manoa ranked fifth with a score of 55 out of 100.

Halawa was first with a score of 87, followed by UH West Oahu at 69 and the Ala Wai Golf Course at 63. Kapiolani Park scored 56, just above UH Manoa, and Kalaeloa scored 49.

Money to redevelop Aloha Stadium at Halawa was first appropriated in 2019, and a facility to be built by a private developer and operated by the state was initially forecast to be finished in 2023, followed by community development on the site that would generate revenue for the state.

However, numerous setbacks arose, including funding changes made by the Legislature, a push by prior Gov. David Ige to have the state build the stadium under a low-bid contract, and most recently a move by Gov. Josh Green to have a private partner build, operate and maintain a new stadium.

A request for proposals was issued in December, and interested development teams that met a Feb. 14 deadline are having their qualifications assessed by an evaluation committee.

Garrett and two other House members introduced HB 2664 in January.

The original draft proposed appropriating $370 million in general obligation bonds for a Manoa stadium, or $30 million less than the mix of bonds and cash appropriated for redevelopment of Aloha Stadium at Halawa.

After the Finance Committee hearing, the bond appropriation for a Manoa stadium was reduced to $211 million at the suggestion of Rep. Kyle Yamashita, chair of the committee.

Yamashita (D, Pukalani-­Makawao-Ulupalakua) suggested that part of the existing $400 million appropriation might be needed for other state spending needs, which could include covering Maui wildfire recovery expenses.

Of the $400 million, $49.5 million is cash from general funds, and the balance is general obligation bonds representing debt.

During the committee hearing, Garrett asked Luis Salaveria, state budget director, whether unspent past appropriations were being considered to help pay for wildfire recovery expenses. Salaveria said “everything is on the table” but that the governor is committed to the stadium project.

The Legislature is scheduled to wrap up its 2024 session May 3.

If the existing plan to redevelop Aloha Stadium in Ha­lawa survives, detailed proposals are expected to be received by the end of July from two or three finalist teams, and a goal is to have a signed contract with a winning bidder by June 2025.