Fellows mentioned in this story: Jeff Mikulina

From Hawai‘i Public Radio:

The Hawaiʻi Legislature opens for business on Jan. 21. Between now and the opening session, HPR will be hearing a lot about plans and priorities. From federal funding cuts to climate change, a lot of those priorities focus on Hawaiʻi's environment.

Top of the list: the “Green Fee,” a new revenue source, as of Jan. 1, funded by a 0.75 percentage point increase in the transient accommodations tax. It's expected to raise about $100 million a year.

What's the most effective way to spend that money? That’s a question that faced the state’s Green Fee Advisory Council — a 10-member group making recommendations on where and how to spend this revenue.

The council is chaired by Jeff Mikulina, a longtime environmental activist and policy specialist who’s also executive director of Climate Hawaiʻi.

He sat down with The Conversation to discuss those recommendations, how the money will be spent, and a bit about the people who have been looking at the options.

Listen at hawaiipublicradio.org.