LIHU‘E — A “green fee,” which would require visitors to pay $50 per-person to use beaches, parks and trails in Hawai‘i, drew firm backing from state voters in a new poll with results released Monday.
The survey showed 63 percent of voters support the idea of requiring the “green fee” as a means to help protect natural and cultural resources in the island chain. A total of 32 percent opposed the idea, while 5 percent were undecided.
“We welcome visitors to Hawai‘i. We want to share all our islands have to offer, and we want our visitors to share the responsibility of caring for our island home,” said Gov. Josh Green in a statement on Monday.
“This latest poll reaffirms that it is time for visitors, given the profound impact that 9 to 10 million annual travelers to Hawai‘i have on our natural resources, to more equitably protect, preserve and restore our natural and
cultural resources.”
The survey comes on the heels of “green fee” proposals currently being considered by the state Legislature.
Companion proposals, Senate Bill 304 and House Bill 1162, would establish a visitor impact fee program within the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, through which the department would collect a fee, according to descriptions of the bills.
The fee would be for a license to visit a state-owned park, forest, hiking trail, or other state natural area, as designated by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.
Given the millions of people who visit the Hawaiian Islands each year — a figure that topped 9 million in 2022, tourism data shows — the fee has the potential to generate millions of dollars in revenue on a yearly basis. Of note, a total of approximately 1.34 million people visited Kaua‘i in the same annual period.
“Hawai‘i is one of the richest places in the world when it comes to natural beauty and biodiversity. The islands’ natural assets, coupled with irreplaceable culture and values, are what makes Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i,” said Carissa Cabrera, project manager of Hawai‘i Green Fee, in a statement.
“It is clear that Hawai‘i residents take their kuleana of caring for the islands seriously. Our natural and cultural resources provide us with so much, and it’s up to all of us to ensure that they can recover and thrive for generations to come,” she said.
Hawai‘i Green Fee is a coalition of organizations and individuals committed to conserving Hawaii’s natural and cultural resources by building visitor stewardship and investing in green infrastructure.
The survey was commissioned by Hawai‘i Trust for Public Land, Resources Legacy Fund, and The Nature Conservancy. The survey, which was conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz &Associates (FM3) of Los Angeles, took place in January.
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Wyatt Haupt Jr., editor, can be reached at 808-245-0457 or whaupt@thegardenisland.com.
Illegal for US Citizens. You do not own the beaches and you already suck enough cash from tourists.
What a waste of time and effort. This will be killed in the courts immediately. If it passes, the other 49 states should pass a law that requires Hawaiian visitors to pay extra for using the airports, rental cars, sidewalks, streets, freeways, airspace, restaurants, hotels, bathrooms, stores, gas stations, and everything else. Sounds fair to me! Seriously, I agree that the cost to rent a car and accommodations in Hawaii should have a visitor fee that helps with infrastructure cost and maintenance. This includes parks, beaches, road, and more.
This is just attempting to feed a big hungry machine.
Shoreline public access is an important common law right that is shared by local residents and visitors alike. The right of access to Hawaii’s shorelines includes the right of transit along the shoreline and within beach transit corridors. Beach transit corridors are defined as the areas extending seaward of the shoreline and these areas are considered public property (HRS §115-5, HRS §205A-1).
Beaches in Hawaii are generally publicly accessible- REGARDLESS OF OWNERSHIP. As part of the public trust doctrine, they are essential public coastal recreational resources. Providing coastal recreational opportunities accessible to the public is a fundamental objective set forth in Chapter 205A, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS).
Legislative statutes governing access can be found in Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes (HRS) Chapter 115, Public Access to Coastal and Inland Recreational Areas and HRS Chapter 198D, Hawaiʻi Statewide Trail and Access System.
A fee (financial barrier) may fall under a sketchy physical impediment which is generally illegal.
” A person commits the offense of obstructing access to public property if the person, by action or by having installed a physical impediment, intentionally prevents a member of the public from traversing a beach transit corridor. Obstructing access to public property is a misdemeanor.”
The state could be charged with a fine of $2000 for each offense they commit by this fee as it may be recoverable by residents and visitors alike. A win win for the local economy and visitors to be able to get free green from Green.
Public lands and access to those lands should not be walled off with a fee. You would be surprised how fast a lot of tourism will fall off due to something as minor as this.
They tried this crap in California with those Adventure Passes (daily and yearly). It flopped terribly and now few visit anything anymore.
If Gov. Josh Green wants to turn Hawaii into Disneyland with E-Ticket fee’s just remember that most of your money comes from tourism. Hawaii is expensive now to visit compared to the 1970’s and 80’s. For $50 a pop people will spend that on golf course green fee’s instead or go Zip Lining.
Obscene and embarrassing for the state of Hawaii!
Where do I start? $50 per person for 9 million visitors is a cool $450 million in new predatory fees imposed on visitors. What will Hawaii do with all that money to improve the value of visiting Hawaii for our visitors? Or will this just get squandered by the state like so many other state and county taxes and fees?
Hawaii’s visitors are the economic life blood for Hawaii, which includes the large majority of Hawaiian residents. COVID was an awful experience for everyone on so many levels, but it certainly showed the devastating impact losing visitor income had on the state economy. Consider a family of 5 shopping for their next family vacation. They have many options that won’t stick an additional $250 fee for what is essentially the only affordable activity, on top of Hawaii’s already sky high lodging costs (plus 13.5% hotel/vacation rental visitor tax), high rental car costs and fees, high restaurant prices, and high activity costs. It all adds up to making many alternatives look both more welcoming and more affordable.
How much of this tax revenue will be simply consumed by the state in trying to enforce this craziness? How much more spent in legal challenges for this dubious law?
Hawaii has much more important issues to solve like eliminating the marine shipping monopoly that drives up the cost of literally everything in Hawaii for the sole benefit of a small number of shipping companies, the poor performing public schools, making our mass transit a better option for all (including our visitors) to reduce reliance on the excessive number of cars and trucks choking our roads, encouraging the building of affordable housing in sufficient quantity and distributed near where people need to go for work.