Community presses Hawaii’s new Green Fee Advisory Council

Jeff Mikulina: The Green Fee Advisory Council chair says the panel’s focus is on protecting Hawaii from climate-related threats. Courtesy photo

By Dan Nakaso for Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Representatives of Hawaii’s new Green Fee Advisory Council who will make recommendations on how increased lodging fees should be spent to combat climate change said Wednesday that they understand the scrutiny they’re under and pledged transparency.

“There are a lot of eyeballs on this,” Jeff Mikulina, the council’s chair, said during the first public discussion of what’s expected to happen in the months ahead. “This is really first in the nation. We owe it to the visitor industry, the folks who are paying into this, and communities and future generations to be very clear and explicit about where the funding is going and hold folks accountable to execute those projects.”

Even before Wednesday’s 90-minute presentation, which included dozens of community questions, members of the all-volunteer council have been barraged by ideas and projects that people believe should be funded when Hawaii’s Transient Accommodations Tax increases by 0.75 percentage point on Jan. 1 for everyone — including local residents — who books hotel rooms, short-term vacation rentals or cruise ship accommodation.

Click here to read the full story from the Sept. 25 issue of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser