With the Trump administration approving a federal disaster declaration to aid Hawaiʻi’s storm recovery efforts, HPR spoke with Gov. Josh Green about how the state is supporting Hawaiʻi residents after the storms.
Part of the relief provided includes a three-month extension to file federal income taxes for affected individuals and businesses, and relief for state tax filing as well.
Interview Highlights
On the total cost of the storm damage
JOSH GREEN: The first two Kona lows caused over a billion dollars of combined damage and loss for the state. So in order to get recovery going, I've authorized $175 million in state funds for the immediate recovery by lifting restrictions on our budget that come at the end of the year. And then we also got the good news that we got the major disaster declaration from the administration, which I fought pretty hard for, so that now we'll get up to 75% of shared recovery or reimbursement for anything that we do on basically public assistance and individual assistance so people can really recover.
On providing immediate relief to storm victims
GREEN: We're doing some things to kind of give people a break. For example, you know, this week is tax week, right? So people's state taxes would be due next week, if they like an extension, because the storm caused them to lose paperwork or their computer or important information, they can have it. So all they have to do is go over to our state of Hawaiʻi Department of Taxation website, and they just file a one page form, or one-and-a-half page form. It's quick, and they'll get an extension till July 20 … and all people have to do is go to, I think it's hitax.hawaii.gov, they can fill out that form. ...
There's other things I'm going to do directly. At first, we had applications for farms that lost a lot, and mud covering up all the land, lost some of their seedlings. So the first 330 were approved. And I then realized there were 1,700 applications, so we just approved all of them. It's a modest amount, but that's a $2.5 million appropriation, which I do expect very likely to get reimbursed by the Department of Ag. … We're also going to do business grants, $5,000 or $10,000 for affected businesses, depending on their size, that'll come out, I think, in the next week, the details, and that's so people can just cover their lease for this tough month.
On diversifying Hawaiʻi’s energy grid
GREEN: Let me say this about energy — I want to move the state forward. We are kind of stuck a little bit in a rut. I'm an absolute and total supporter of renewables, and we should max renewables constantly. And solar, wind, geothermal come to mind. The challenge is that if we don't update our power plants, we're going to continue to see these double-digit increases in cost, and people just can't afford it anymore. … Right now, the idea of continuing to rely on oil from places like Libya or worry about what happens in the Middle East when you have a war with Iran, it's just insanity. So diversifying our energy portfolio to ultimately get to full renewables, which would be hydrogen in addition to solar in addition to geothermal, makes sense. And I'm just not going to be a governor that sits on my butt and doesn't do something when I can try to make things more affordable.
Residents impacted by the flood can apply for a state tax filing extension by visiting the Hawaii Department of Taxation website here.
This story aired on The Conversation on April 16, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
