Tourists Will Be Charged $2.25 Per Day to Surf in Hawaii
The tax, specifically, will apply to travelers staying in hotels, short-term rental homes, and cruise ships. And how much exactly? The transient accommodations tax (TAT) will be increased by 0.75 percent – translation: a nightly rate of $300 in a hotel will have an extra $2.25 per night added to the bill.
Senate Bill 1396 was signed by Hawaii Governor Josh Green earlier this week, enacting what they are calling the 'Green Fee,' the first-of-its-kind for any state, going into effect next year.
Governor Green said via press release: 'Today Hawaiʻi ushers in the first Green Fee in the nation. Once again, Hawaiʻi is at the forefront of protecting our natural resources, recognizing their fundamental role in sustaining the ecological, cultural and economic health of Hawaiʻi. As an island chain, Hawaiʻi cannot wait for the next disaster to hit before taking action. We must build resiliency now, and the Green Fee will provide the necessary financing to ensure resources are available for our future.'Of course, Hawaii is one of the world's most trafficked hubs for tourism. And all those people take a toll on the historic, and culturally significant island chain. So, this tax is an attempt to get ahead of future environmental impacts the islands may experience – a reserve, of sorts, for future disasters.
'I mahalo the tourism industry for stepping up and collaborating on this initiative, which will preserve Hawaiʻi for kamaʻāina and visitors alike,' continued Governor Green. 'The fee will restore and remediate our beaches and shorelines and harden infrastructure critical to the health and safety of all who call Hawaiʻi home, whether for a few days or a lifetime.'
If you're traveling to Hawaii, and you're staying in a hotel or short-term vacation rental, starting in 2026, it's gonna cost you an extra $2.25 per day to surf. But, instead of an extra fee, consider it an investment in the natural beauty and the future prosperity of this sacred place.Tourists Will Be Charged $2.25 Per Day to Surf in Hawaii first appeared on Surfer on May 30, 2025
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Geek Wire
a day ago
- Geek Wire
‘Talent drives everything': Vinod Khosla's contrarian take on America's AI and climate challenges
Sustainability: News about the rapidly growing climate tech sector and other areas of innovation to protect our planet. SEE MORE Vinod Khosla, right, speaking with Akshat Rathi, a senior reporter with Bloomberg Green, at the Bloomberg Green Seattle event on July 15. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) The biggest threat to America's competitiveness in artificial intelligence and climate tech isn't the Trump administration's cuts to renewable power tax breaks or electricity shortages for data centers, says Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. It's immigration policy. 'Talent drives everything,' said the billionaire technologist. But President Trump's aggressive immigration actions are discouraging foreign-born people from coming to the U.S., including skilled workers with visas, because of the hostile environment, Khosla said. That reduces the import of highly educated innovators who can help 'solve climate and other technology problems,' he added. Khosla shared his take on tech and sustainability issues on Tuesday at Bloomberg Green Seattle, a three-day event focused on climate change that attracted leaders from industry, government, nonprofits, startups and environmental organizations. The backdrop to the conference was a heat wave predicted to send temperatures into the 90s in the normally more temperate city. Read one for more from Khosla's conversation with Akshat Rathi, a senior reporter with Bloomberg Green: 'Very bullish on fusion' Khosla predicted that within five years, 'nobody will be talking about alternatives to fusion as a power source for the planet for the next 50 years.' His fund has backed Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Realta Fusion, and he expects that one of the dozen 'reasonable efforts' working to commercial power from smashing atoms together will soon demonstrate viability. 'Only one needs to work to solve the planet's energy problem,' he added. Embracing risk In order to solve big challenges such as developing cost-competitive, scalable, low-carbon technologies, Khosla argues for taking big chances in pursuit of breakthroughs. He cited his fund's pursuit of green steel as an example. 'I don't mind the probability of failure,' he said, 'but I want the consequences of success to be consequential.' Look to 2050 Many in the climate sector argue that the world can slow the planet's warming by aggressively deploying cleaner technologies that are available today. Khosla disagrees, calling it 'a silly notion.' 'If you're deploying poor technologies more broadly, we have less money to deploy breakthrough technologies and less money to invest in breakthrough technology,' he said, adding that the world should focus on getting to zero by 2050 and put less attention on 2030 goals. But he did acknowledge the threat of reaching tipping points before the half-century mark, which would accelerate climate change and makes it harder to slow. Untroubled by axed tax credits GOP policies are slashing tax credits from the Biden administration that supported deployment of wind and solar energy. Khosla said there are better uses for public dollars than subsidies for these sufficiently mature sectors. He added that next-generation nuclear power also doesn't need tax breaks — and that its biggest hurdle to expansion is NIMBY-ism.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Texas sheriff didn't promise to help Mexican rescuers get green cards
Claim: In mid-July 2025, Kerr County Sheriff Larry L. Leitha said he would apply for a green card for the Mexican rescue team that saved his family during deadly Texas flooding.. Rating: In mid-July 2025, numerous videos spread on social media claiming that Kerr County Sheriff Larry L. Leitha announced that he would apply for green cards — a step toward becoming naturalized U.S. citizens — for a Mexican rescue team that saved his family during the Texas floods. One such video appeared on X (archived) in the style of a breaking news bulletin. It had amassed more than 824,000 views as of this writing. The text on the footage read, "BREAKING NEWS," and stated: "Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leda said he would apply for a green card for the Mexican rescue team that saved his family." The X post's caption read: Maybe, just maybe, all is not lost… Kerr County Sheriff Leda—best known for targeting immigrants—just announced he's applying for green cards for the Mexican rescue team that saved his family. The irony writes itself. Maybe the regime should take notes: immigrants save lives. Your cruelty doesn't. Similar versions of the video appeared on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, often showing clips of Leitha speaking at a news conference (see screenshot below). (Google search results) However, there was no evidence that Leitha ever made such a statement. No official press releases from the Kerr County Sheriff's Office mention any such promise and no reputable news outlets reported on Leitha making such an announcement. Recordings and transcripts of his public appearances do not reference green cards and Mexican rescue teams. Additionally, the narration and voice-over in the videos sharing the claim appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence software. Therefore, we have rated this claim as false. There were several indicators that the videos were spreading a false narrative. One sign was the repeated misnaming of the sheriff, which would likely not happen on a bulletin by a reputable news media outlet. Leitha was incorrectly referred to as "Leda" and "Lida" in all of the above videos, whereas his actual name is Larry L. Leitha. The narration, which was also used in all the videos but in some instances featured the start being cut off, also displayed signs of being AI-generated. The pacing was often unnatural and the speaker's intonation was inconsistent. When analyzed with Resemble AI, a deepfake detection tool, the narration was identified as "Fake." (Resemble AI) Most videos started with a sentence that did not make sense: "Kerr County Sheriff Larry Lyda says to apply for a green card for the Mexican rescue team that rescued his family and that they will not be restricted from entering or exiting the U.S. border in the future." Likewise, the videos all featured a sentence near the end that was incoherent: "Sheriff Lida could no longer look at his neighbors across the river the way that he used to that human life has no nationality about a people the Mexican people." The videos also repeated a claim that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum personally sent specialized rescue teams to Texas (emphasis ours): The sheriff's daughter and two young grandchildren were tragically trapped, and when the local rescue effort was overwhelmed, a specialized rescue team, sent by the president of Mexico, marched across the border to help. Snopes previously addressed that specific rumor, explaining that there was no evidence such an intervention occurred. During a July 7 news conference, Sheinbaum clarified that the aid came from volunteer firefighters in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, who traveled to Texas independently. Additionally, Google search results produced no credible evidence that Leitha made any public statements about issuing Mexican rescuers green cards in connection to the floods or his family being affected (archived). Neither of the July 5 and July 9 news conferences, nor other briefings published online, contained any statements resembling the claim in the social media videos. Likewise, the C-SPAN transcript of the July 9 news briefing also showed that Leitha did not discuss green cards and Mexican nationals or any related topics. Similarly, the Kerr County Sheriff's Office website contained no evidence suggesting the claim was true. If Leitha had publicly announced such an unprecedented promise to help a Mexican rescue team obtain green cards, it would have been widely reported by credible news outlets. However, this was not the case (archived). Fact-checking outlets Lead Stories and PolitiFact also debunked this rumor. Lead Stories noted that the narration said the Mexican rescue team "marched across the border to help" and that Leitha described them as "his neighbors across the river," despite Kerr County being more than 80 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, which would have required a multiday march. Snopes has fact-checked numerous claims about the Texas floods. For example, we looked into a video that allegedly showed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott saying: "I support ICE deporting the Mexicans who helped during the floods." We also debunked a rumor that U.S. President Donald Trump said that he hoped "the dead are immigrants, not Americans." - YouTube. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025. ---. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025. ---. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025. About the Kerr County Sheriff's Office. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025. Briceño, Maria. "No, Texas Sheriff Is Not Giving Green Cards to Mexican Rescu." @politifact, Accessed 15 Jul. 2025. Fact Check: FAKE "Sheriff Larry Leda Applying For Green Card For Mexican Rescue Team" Video Misspells Name -- No Media Reports | Lead Stories. 13 Jul. 2025, Ibrahim, Nur. "Trump Didn't Say He Hoped Texas Flood Victims Were Immigrants." Snopes, 14 Jul. 2025, Latest News. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025. Texas Officials Brief on Flooding in Kerrville | Video | Accessed 15 Jul. 2025. Wrona, Aleksandra. "Clarifying Claim ICE Deported Mexican Rescue Workers Who Helped in Texas Floods." Snopes, 14 Jul. 2025, ---. "Did Mexican President Send Rescue Teams to Texas after Deadly Flooding?" Snopes, 9 Jul. 2025,
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Bloomberg
UK Abandons Green Taxonomy Plan to Focus on Other Policies
The UK will not create its own framework for sustainable investments, abandoning years of work to focus on other green policies. Britain's government has not found sufficient evidence that a so-called taxonomy would help stop greenwashing and channel investments to more sustainable economic activities, it said in a consultation document published Tuesday. Instead, the UK said it would focus on sustainability reporting standards and corporate transition plans.
