The pressure is on for the new climate fee advisory group to make the right recommendations by January on how Hawaii should best spend the country’s first state-wide assessment to address climate change.
The .75% increase in the state’s Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) raises it to 11% beginning Jan. 1, when the new, 10-member Green Fee Advisory Council needs to get its recommendations to Green to possibly turn into a bill for the upcoming legislative session.
The higher TAT will apply to hotels, vacation rentals, and cruise ships for the first time. Local residents also have to pay the higher TAT when they rent transient accommodations.
When the legislative session begins, it’ll be up to Green to turn the Green Fee Advisory Council’s recommendations into bills for the Legislature to debate and potentially send back to Green by the time the session ends in May.
Act 96 then requires the state to begin distributing the increased TAT in July.
“We want to show immediate results in year one,” Jeff Mikulina, the chair of the new, volunteer climate fee advisory group, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “We want to get the money deployed quickly. I hope people see that the money is put to good use.”
There will be “no shortage of great ideas” how to spend the money, Mikulina said. Possibilities include anything from coral reef education to hurricane roof clips to addressing sea-level rise.
The increase in the TAT is expected to generate an estimated $100 million a year to equally fund three separate “buckets,” according to the new law:
• Protect, manage and restore the state’s natural resources, including native forests, native plants and animals, aquatic resources, coastal lands, and freshwater resources;
• Increase the resilience of structures and infrastructure to natural and climate-related disasters, such as hurricanes and sea level rise and perform hazard mitigation activities such as wildlife and flood mitigation; and
• Improve the visitor experience, mitigate the impacts of tourism on the natural environment, ensure that the state’s natural resources are maintained for future residents and visitors, and support destination management, such as park improvements and beach improvement, nourishment, and maintenance projects.
“Now the concern is: how do we make sure those funds are allocated appropriately?” Mikulina said.
A webinar has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 24 to discuss the purpose and approach of the Green Fee Advisory Council.
To register, visit: bit.ly/464XzEA.
Green signed Senate Bill 1396 into law on May 27 as Act 96 following his third consecutive push to have tourists pay more to help the state respond to climate change.
His inaugural effort in 2022 began with Green’s first year in office then took on greater urgency following the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires that killed 102 people, caused $13 billion in damage and led to greater state-wide awareness of the threat of wildfires, hurricanes, tsunamis and any number of potential dangers as beaches continue to erode and ocean-front homes crash onto beaches.
Mikulina serves as executive director of Climate Hawai‘i and has a background in sustainable development and statewide climate initiatives, and Green expressed confidence in Mikulina and the rest of the council to properly leverage the green fee.
In announcing the members of the council last week, Green wrote in a statement that, “Under the leadership of Jeff Mikulina and this advisory council, every dollar collected will work smarter and harder — to safeguard our natural and cultural treasures, build climate resilience and share responsibility with visitors for the stewardship of our islands.”
Mikulina’s been impressed with the scope and backgrounds of the other nine council members that Green has assembled, including Dennis Hwang of the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Mikulina said that Hwang “literally wrote book on homeowner preparation,” called the “Homeowner’s Handbook to Prepare for Natural Hazards.”
Hwang also serves as a member of the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency’s Hawai‘i Earthquake and Tsunami Advisory Committee.
The other members of the council are:
• Eric Co, CEO of the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation. He has more than 25 years in ocean management, community development and climate resilience across Hawaii and the Pacific.
• Lea Hong, state director of The Trust for Public Land who has pushed for restoration of lands to Native Hawaiian stewardship.
• Janice Ikeda, founding CEO of Vibrant Hawai‘i, who advocates for resilience networks and community-led development across Hawaii island.
• Michelle Ka‘uhane, chief operating officer and executive vice president at the Hawai‘i Community Foundation.
• Jack Kittinger, a conservation scientist and research professor at Arizona State University. He leads the Conservation International’s Center for Regenerative Economies.
• Keoni Kuoha, a Hokule‘a crew member and Maui community leader, who has a background in indigenous resource stewardship and nonprofit leadership.
• Carmela Resuma, destination stewardship director at Kilohana by the Hawaiian Council.
• Jeff Wagoner, president and CEO of Outrigger Hospitality Group who has more than three decades in hospitality.
In the first three years of debate at the state Capitol over the “green fee,” there have been no lack of ideas.
It wouldn’t be surprising if legislators introduce — or re-introduce — bills to further increase the green fee, including the possibility of pay-as-you-go fees like already exist at popular state destinations such as Diamond Head State Monument, Mikulina said.
More immediately, Mikulina said he can’t wait to get the advisory council focused on the work in front of them before it has to make its recommendations to Green in January.
“Time is against us,” Mikulina said. “But I’m really excited about this opportunity. It’s a commitment to take care of these islands we love. These are public dollars and we want to see them put to the highest and best use that I hope reflects our values and goals.”
Source: The Garden Island
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