Fellows mentioned in this story:
Jeff Mikulina
Janice Ikeda
Jack Kittinger

From Honolulu Star-Advertiser:

The pressure is on for the new climate fee advisory group to make the right recommendations by January on how Hawai‘i should best spend the country’s first state-wide assessment to address climate change.

The .75% increase in the state’s Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) raises it to 11% beginning Jan. 1, when the new, 10-member Green Fee Advisory Council needs to get its recommendations to Green to possibly turn into a bill for the upcoming legislative session.

The higher TAT will apply to hotels, vacation rentals, and cruise ships for the first time. Local residents also have to pay the higher TAT when they rent transient accommodations.

When the legislative session begins, it’ll be up to Green to turn the Green Fee Advisory Council’s recommendations into bills for the Legislature to debate and potentially send back to Green by the time the session ends in May.

Act 96 then requires the state to begin distributing the increased TAT in July.

Continue reading at staradvertiser.com.