Is Hawaiʻi’s green fee being used as intended? Lawmakers advance $20B budget plan
By Kimber Collins for KITV 4 Island News
Kimber Collins / KITV 4 Island News
A roughly $20 billion state spending plan is moving forward at the State Capitol, but questions are growing about how Hawaii is using its new visitor green fee.
House Bill 1800, the state’s supplemental budget through 2027, cleared conference committee Thursday night and now heads to a final vote next week.
The plan includes billions in infrastructure spending, including:
$446 million for public school improvements
$646 million for highway upgrades
$365 million for airport projects
$78 million for hospital and healthcare improvements
Lawmakers said the budget is focused on local needs.
“We are proud to pass a budget that puts Hawaii’s working families front and center,” said State Senator Donovan M. Dela Cruz.
But embedded throughout the bill is funding tied to the state’s visitor green fee, a tourism tax that began collection Jan. 1 and is expected to generate more than $100 million annually.
The fee appears dozens of times in the spending plan, funding a mix of environmental and infrastructure-related projects.
A Green Fee Advisory Council was created last year to recommend how that money should be spent, with a focus on protecting natural resources.
Council member Carmella Rasuma said some of those recommendations made it into the final budget, but not all.
Click here to read the full article published by KITV 4 Island News on May 1.
