The big national news Friday morning? In a 6-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to raise tariffs. Writing for the court's majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said Trump lacked the peacetime authority to use IEEPA, NPR reports. Trump is trying to use a different argument to hike tariffs.
In this month's briefing with HPR, soon after the court ruling, Gov. Josh Green talked about the potential impacts on Hawaiʻi's economy. He also shared his thoughts on the recent headlines involving Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke.
Luke amended her campaign report after Honolulu Civil Beat discovered an omission of about $10,000 she received from two donors, allegedly tied to a meeting with Rep. Ty Cullen, who was convicted in a bribery probe. Luke forfeited the checks and reported their return, but failed to report receiving the money in the first place. The headlines prompted the governor to cancel a trip to D.C. for a conference.
Interview Highlights
On what the tariff news means for Hawaiʻi
JOSH GREEN: I'm glad the Supreme Court ruled that way. Tariffs were dragging our economy down a little bit. We are totally committed to housing. As you know, housing and affordability are our top priorities, and tariffs were causing some difficulties getting materials. They were raising costs. I always felt tariffs were kind of a punitive, bad idea, personally, so I'm glad the Supreme Court decided to push back on the administration a little bit. It should help us build housing a little more affordably. ... Canada was very upset about this. There's no reason to be targeting Canada. They're our allies. But also, for Hawaiʻi, a lot of our visitors come from Canada, and we've seen a noticeable decline in Canadian travelers when they've been mad with the Washington, D.C., folks. So we don't need that. We love the Canadians, and they should be visiting us and doing business with us. So I think this will actually have a, you know, over time, a very positive effect.
On headlines about Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and the alleged 2022 lawmaker payment
GREEN: This is, of course, a, you know, deeply concerning situation. And you know, I will say this. Accountability is totally essential. No matter what. No one gets a free pass. I canceled my trip because I really felt that I needed to show the people of Hawaiʻi that we were going to have steady leadership during a time of concern or crisis. And I didn't want them to worry at all that there wouldn't be just kind of a regular cadence of government that was responsible. I would not ever suggest that I know the details of what's gone on. That's why this is a totally independent investigation by our attorney general. What I've wanted to convey is, when there are crises, I am here, whether it's COVID or the wildfire and our recovery there, or this question of public trust — I'm here and I, you know, I just decided that no matter what, though that, you know, that was a very important meeting, unfortunately, it's going on right now. My top priority is always our, you know, our state, and I can go back in a couple months, if I have to for a couple days. But, you know, I do not assign blame, guilt or anything of the sort, but we did need a moment of steady leadership, and there was a heck of a lot of conjecture in the media. And I don't, you know, I don't think it's my place to judge, but it is my place to show steadiness, and so that's why I stayed.
On calls for an independent probe into the alleged payment
GREEN: Those individuals really do not understand the law, unfortunately, and I don't want to be cruel here, but this is an independent investigation. The Legislature itself passed a law. They gave us instructions on how to have independent investigations. They set up a separate part of the Attorney General's Office to do exactly that. The Attorney General Anne Lopez has tasked that independent entity as passed by the Legislature to do it. That's a lot of political theater, as you can see, you know, people marching up to my office with a letter and good, respected members of the press in tow to try to, you know, press their own political agenda — is not okay. The people want independent investigation. That's what they'll get. That's what I insist on. I'm walled off in every way from it. I do not know the details of the investigation, but I think that it is independent, and I have to follow the law. If I were to suddenly come up with an additional investigator, they would have to also still go under the attorney general, it'd be no different, and unfortunately, it would also probably delay the work and the investigation by several months. The last I checked, everybody wants this to be resolved. They want the facts to be, you know, vetted, and then decisions be made. So I think it's very ironic that people are lobbing letters at me or editorials at me, saying we should now turn to another independent investigator. Because then you're not going to know until many more months. And let me be very clear — people have to decide, you know, who they're going to choose for their leadership roles across the state this coming August for the primary and November for the general. So I think there has to be some clarity long before that, for everyone's good.
On supporting Attorney General Anne Lopez
GREEN: I can also tell you that I chose Anne Lopez for a reason. When I chose her to be our attorney general, I chose her because she is not political. She was the least political of all the candidates, and I had a lot of really good candidates, some former attorneys general, but I picked her because she just doesn't do politics, and therefore she will do an independent investigation. I can't instruct her one way or another, except to, of course, put some pressure, like everybody is putting into the universe, which is, please get this done fairly quickly. And I think Anne took that to heart, because she gave us an update last week, and she has said that she intends to give the state updates every two weeks, even if she doesn't have a lot of new findings, she has to just give us an update, because the people want to know where we are. But for the time being, that's what I really wanted to convey. It is an independent investigation. You always get political chatter, because that's what people do in politics. It is a very unusual set of relationships, and some people go way back. Some people love each other, some people hate each other. But when there's blood in the water, I get all kinds of different suggestions, and what I would say is, let's trust the attorney general to be independent. That's my standard for her, and she takes it to heart.
On spending the new Green Fee on sustainability projects
GREEN: We're projecting about $126 million a year. This is the first year. Just started on Jan. 1, so we're only, like, six weeks into it, but we do expect to collect that 0.75% Green Fee and then apply it very transparently to key issues, mostly to defend ourselves against climate change impacts, to help us with fire prevention, to help us mitigate some of the loss of the shoreline, all these things. And so it's being debated vibrantly, which is good, at the Legislature right now. You know, they raised the question about whether or not, in the first year, we are allowed to use some general obligation bond funding versus just cash. And ultimately, you know, I'm going to respect whatever their decision is. We just want to get it started. And since the money only begins on Jan. 1, of course, we won't have a full complement of money this first (fiscal) year. So this is a long game. This is that 20-year plan to help us deal with climate change, and I hope and expect this will be one of the more important things that I get to do as governor. ... I know that there is going to be hemming and hawing at different levels, because it's new and it's a new approach to things, but when you do new things, you do your best, you care for people, you make good decisions, and then you adjust, you debug. I know that the auditor is looking at it, and I hope and expect they will provide a very thoughtful audit of what's going on, and we always want to learn and be accountable. But when programs are new, and you're trying to apply vision to deal with large challenges that have been around for a long time, it's not like you wave a magic wand and you get it perfect right away, and that's, you know, that's what leadership is about, trying to address problems in new ways that work better.
On the Aloha Stadium development project
GREEN: I am so appreciative that we are moving on the project. You know, it took years and years and years to kind of de-conflict what the fights were before I became governor. And again, we go forward. We have $350 million appropriated, and I appreciate that from the Legislature — $49.5 million additional operating funds for project management for the authority. And you know, they're going to build a lot of houses there. The goal is to build 4,500 housing units. And now the stadium is projected to be 31,000 seats, which I think is the right size for Hawaiʻi. As you know, I'm pushing sports tourism. Multiple NFL teams have reached out to me now. The latest one was the Arizona Cardinals, and I thank them for reaching out. Of course, all the California markets are reaching out, and this will help us with tourism. But yes, if the stadium doesn't cost as much, we can get more seats, or we can get more luxury boxes and suites to bring celebrities in that our people can spend time with and celebrate, and our young people can have great experiences and aspire to neat things. I mean, all of this is good. It takes time. You know, the first lady's been getting on my case about when the stadium is going to get done, even at home. So it's not just you guys out there. We got to get this thing done because, especially for the younger generation, which travels differently, is making their decision about whether they want to stay and live in Hawaiʻi, it is kind of an interesting additional need for us. So I don't turn back on plans. You know, sometimes I will always try to review the processes and do better. But I don't like going backwards, so I think that once we make a decision, it's been well thought-out.
This story aired on The Conversation on Feb. 20, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Sophia McCullough adapted this interview for the web.
