Column: Don’t betray the promise, purpose of Hawaii’s ‘green fee’

By Mary Charles for Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Jessica Else / The Garden Island

Hawaii’s new “green fee” was sold to the public, to taxpayers and to visitors as something rare in modern government: honest, transparent and purpose-driven.

Visitors were told they would pay more to come here so Hawaii could better protect the very places they came to experience — our beaches, reefs, trails, forests and shorelines. Residents were told the new fee would help fund climate resilience, natural resource protection, disaster mitigation and a better visitor experience. It was a reasonable promise, and one many of us supported because it aligned environmental stewardship with the realities of a visitor-based economy.

To ensure those dollars were spent wisely, Gov. Josh Green created the 10-member Green Fee Advisory Council, chaired by respected environmental leaders and filled with experts who did the hard work of reviewing hundreds of proposals and recommending projects that met the law’s clear intent. That council, with Jeff Mikulina and others, built a credible, thoughtful and disciplined roadmap for how these funds should be used.

Click here to read the full column published by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on May 7.