The teachers union’s controversial property tax proposal to generate more funding for public schools advanced another step at the state Capitol on Tuesday.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association put forward legislation that it says could raise an estimated $500 million a year for the Department of Education by creating a property tax surcharge for owners of residential investment properties and a daily surcharge on visitor accommodations.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance House Bills 180 and 182 following a public hearing Tuesday, over the objections of county officials, the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii and the Hawaii Association of Realtors. More than 2,000 teachers submitted testimony in support of the bills.

The bills previously cleared the House Education Committee and still need to be vetted by the House Finance Committee.

“We’ve got to find a way to fund our schools,” HSTA President Corey Rosenlee testified at Tuesday’s hearing. “Taxing anything is never popular. But we believe this bill not only funds our schools, but also works to try to stop the speculation (by investors) that is raising the cost of living for everyone in Hawaii.”

House Bill 182 calls for a constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would allow the state to collect the property tax surcharge. A constitutional amendment is needed because the state Constitution gives counties the power to levy property taxes.

House Bill 180, meanwhile, contains the proposed tax rates and exemptions for the surcharges, along with language about how the collected funds could be spent.

The surcharge on residential investment properties — homes or condo- miniums that do not serve as a primary residence — would be tiered based on a property’s assessed value. There are more than a dozen exemptions for investment properties, including affordable housing that’s rented for less than $1,500 a month and properties rented to low-income seniors or disabled veterans.

Craig Hirai, executive director of the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency tasked with making incentives for affordable-housing development, testified against HB 180 at Tuesday’s hearing.

Hirai said the bill would impose a surcharge on low-income rental housing projects that are exempt from county real property taxes. He said the exemption in HB 180 for rentals with monthly rent below $1,500 would apply per property under the bill, meaning projects with multiple units would be hit with the surcharge.

Rep. Scott Nishimoto, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he would include in his committee report that the HSTA and Hawaii Housing and Finance Development Corp. have been asked to “work out some kind of fix.”

“We don’t want this to penalize low-income housing or affordable housing,” Nishimoto said.

Earlier versions of HB 180 would have earmarked the funds for specific things like the recruitment and retention of teachers and improving special-education staffing. The House Education Committee broadened the language to say the money “shall be used to develop and deliver instructional services to students in accordance with statewide educational policy.”