SB666 SD2

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that each year, Hawaii's reefs, oceans, beaches, and forests provide billions of dollars in value to the economy, supporting the well-being of our resident community and visitors alike. These ecosystems are vital to the State's visitor industry and the resident community's cultural identity.

The legislature also finds that even though these natural resources are critical for the visitor industry and resident communities, the State invests less than one per cent of its state budget into those assets. The State's total conservation funding gap has been estimated to be as high as $360,000,000 annually, constituting a major unfunded liability that poses a significant risk to our business climate and our economic resiliency. In comparison to other jurisdictions, such as Ecuador (for its Galapagos National Park), New Zealand, and Australia (for its Great Barrier Reef Marine Park), that invest between $137 to $373 per tourist in their natural capital, Hawaii only invests $9 per tourist.

The legislature further finds that social media's increased influence has driven growing numbers of visitors to the State's beaches and trails, often in numbers that far exceed our natural resource management efforts. The State's vital ecosystems and the resources they harbor continue to decline, due to a combination of these increased visitor impacts, the lack of adequate investment in proven and effective conservation approaches, and the rising pressures of climate change. Data demonstrate a growing cause for concern that tourism's positive contribution to the economy may not outweigh the impact that visitors have on the environment. In 2019, ten million visitors enjoyed the benefits of Hawaii's ecosystems and natural environment. The increased demand on our natural resources requires the creation of innovative conservation financing mechanisms focused on reversing the decline in our ecosystems and the associated risks for our visitor industry and resident community.

The legislature recognizes that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic provides the State with an opportunity to build back the tourism sector more sustainably. A visitor green fee could provide sustainable and comprehensive funding to better mitigate increased visitor impacts and potentially provide for additional green job growth. As the frequency of natural disasters and exogenous shocks increase, the legislature finds that diversification and green job growth are invaluable to Hawaii's economic stability and ability to withstand shocks and reverse the migration of talented employees from the State.

The legislature also finds that innovative financing mechanisms, including green fees, are trending around the globe as triple bottom-line solutions to better manage visitor impacts on ecosystems and natural resources. Green fees vary from $1 per night to a $100 set entrance fee, and may be referred to as eco-taxes; tourist taxes; green taxes; or environmental, conservation, and tourism levies. In general, green fees require mandatory payments made by visitors to government or public-private entities for the explicit purpose of supporting conservation and natural resource management. Green fees are typically bundled with a robust conservation fund and associated management system, along with visitor education and engagement strategies, as part of a jurisdiction's conservation strategy.

The legislature finds that green fees would provide various economic benefits to the State. With 2021 arrivals forecasted to be approximately five million visitors, a $20 per visitor green fee could generate approximately $100,000,000 in conservation workforce revenue, which is estimated to be sufficient to fund as much as two thousand four hundred public and private conservation jobs of diverse skill sets and abilities. Other jurisdictions have found that green stimulus yields a higher economic multiplier effect. Similarly, studies show impressive returns on conservation investment. For example, The Nature Conservancy's efforts at the Waikamoi Preserve will generate a forty-six per cent return on investment over the one hundred-year planning period, with a net present value of $19,100,000.

The legislature further finds that green fees would provide environmental benefits through the funded conservation efforts, including the prevention of four thousand three hundred tons per year of sediment from washing into the ocean and the recharge of 32,500,000,000 gallons over the next one hundred years. In addition to watershed conservation, other environmental benefits could include fire road installation, dune restoration, integrated marine monitoring, coral reef restoration, and recreation and trail maintenance.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Establish the conservation workforce special fund with the explicit commitment of funding a conservation workforce and advancing the Aloha+ Challenge natural resource management targets; and

(2) Establish a ten-year pilot visitor green fee, effective July 1, 2021.

SECTION 2. Chapter 171, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§171- Conservation workforce special fund. (a) There is established in the state treasury the conservation workforce special fund into which shall be deposited:

(1) All revenues under section 237D- ;

(2) Appropriations made by the legislature to the special fund; and

(3) Grants and gifts made to the special fund.

(b) Moneys in the special fund may be expended by the department for workforce programs and services with the explicit purpose of meeting the Aloha+ Challenge natural resource management targets and the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 30 by 30 goals of:

(1) Increasing freshwater capacity by one hundred million gallons per day in comparison to the January 1, 2016, baseline;

(2) Having thirty per cent of Hawaii's marine waters under active management by 2030;

(3) Implementing a biosecurity plan to address priority invasive species by 2030; and

(4) Increasing the percentage of threatened and endangered native species managed in Hawaii by 2030.

Funds may also be expended to support the maintenance or restoration of beaches, parks, and trails."

SECTION 3. Chapter 237D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§237D- Green fee surcharge. (a) Beginning on January 1, 2022, in addition to the taxes imposed pursuant to section 237D-2, there is levied and shall be assessed and collected a green fee surcharge of $20 for each guest, either a visitor or resident, of a transient accommodation.

(b) Notwithstanding sections 237D-2(e) and 237D-6.5, the revenues collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited quarterly into the conservation workforce special fund established pursuant to section 171- ."

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2022, and shall be repealed on December 31, 2031.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	666
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII