State senators will discuss Friday charging visitors a proposed “green fee” to go toward protecting Hawaiʻi's natural resources.
Senate Bill 3192 would establish a fee program for visitors at state parks, beaches and other state-owned natural areas.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources would collect the revenue and use the funds to restore and protect natural resources across the state.
Anthony Ching with The Nature Conservancy says up until now, revenues from state park admissions usually would stay within that park.
But the proposed fee could help expand conservation efforts in the state.
"If this bill passed, it would create this new source of funding to help really make transformational changes to how we can manage our resources because you would have a good idea of what’s coming in every year, be able to take a broad look at all the needs on the conservation front throughout the state," Ching said.
He says the funds would also help Hawaiʻi respond to climate changes.
"There’s a lot of impacts that we’re seeing from sea level rise and coastal erosion and coral bleaching, and down the list. But the state actually has plans to deal with a lot of these issues. They just don’t necessarily have the funding to really make the full progress that they could," he told Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
SB 3192 will be discussed at a joint senate committee meeting this afternoon at 3:10.
