[§187A-52]  Ocean stewardship user fee.  (a)  All operators of commercial vessels, water craft, or water sports equipment that are required to have a commercial operator permit pursuant to section 13-256-3(a), Hawaii Administrative Rules, shall collect an ocean stewardship user fee from each passenger carried or customer served.

     (b)  The ocean stewardship user fee shall be $1 per passenger or customer and shall be adjusted every five years to match changes in the Consumer Price Index in the Honolulu area as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics; provided that the fee shall not be adjusted more than ten per cent every five years.  Fees collected pursuant to this section shall not be counted toward gross revenues for purposes of section 200-10(c)(5).

     (c)  All fees collected pursuant to this section shall be transferred to the department on a monthly basis and shall be deposited into the ocean stewardship special fund; provided that any fees collected on or after January 1, 2029, shall be deposited into the general fund.

     (d)  The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to implement this part. [L 2021, c 46, pt of §2]