Governor signs ‘green fee’ into law to tackle climate change

By HNN Staff

Gov. Josh Green is signing into law a bill that creates a first-of-its-kind “green fee’ to help Hawaii address the impacts of climate change.

Senate Bill 1396 increases the tax visitors pay on hotels, vacation rentals, and cruise ships that dock at Hawaii ports by 0.75%.

The green fee would be added to each county’s 3% lodging tax and a 4.7% general excise tax. That would push a visitor’s tax bill to more than 18.7%, among the highest in the nation.

The fee is expected to raise about $100 million a year for projects to make the state’s infrastructure more resilient to the climate crisis.

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