A state program aimed at protecting and restoring Hawaii’s beaches would get up to $3 million in revenues annually under a bill making its way through the Legislature.
House Bill 444, which got the thumbs up from the House Water and Land Committee on Friday, calls for a host of beach conservation measures, the most significant of which allocates up to $3 million annually from the Transient Accommodations Tax to go directly into the Board of Land and Natural Resources’ beach restoration and conservation fund. How the money is to be used would be determined mutually by the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Hawaii Tourism Authority, which submitted testimony in support of the bill.
The measure would allow the fund to receive $3 million annually, but with a maximum capped fund balance of $5 million.
Currently, the fund gets most of its money from the proceeds from the lease of easements on public lands by private interests. While figures were not available, the new revenue source would bolster the fund’s existing money stream significantly.
Besides paying for beach restoration, the bill would expand the allowable uses of the fund to include related programs such as studying the effects of sea level rise and other coastal engineering issues, and developing and implementing plans to slow beach degradation.
The measure comes at a time when there is increased awareness about coastal erosion and beach loss throughout the state caused by natural processes and human activity. Recent studies show that an estimated 70 percent of Hawaii beaches are "chronically eroding," Land Department officials said in written testimony.
Since 2012 the department has worked with the city and private property owners on restoring parts of Waikiki Beach, and is working with Maui and Kauai counties to do the same at Kaanapali and Poipu, respectively.
The bill would carry out the intent of a measure passed by the Legislature in 2013 calling for $3 million in Transient Accommodations Tax revenues to be given to the agency, department officials said.
The bill received supporting testimony from the Hawaii Tourism Authority as well as nonprofit conservation groups the Hawaii Shore and Beach Preservation Association and the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii.
"Hawaii’s beaches are important, unique and special components of the natural resources that make Hawaii a special place for residents as well as visitors," said Ronald Williams, the HTA’s president and chief executive officer. With the state’s beaches eroding at an alarming rate, they "require a commitment of resources to protect them, and the coordination of efforts at all levels to achieve this protection."
State Rep. Ryan Yamane (D, Mililani-Waipio-Waikele), House Water and Land Committee chairman and lead author of the bill, called the measure "a good first step" toward tackling the related issues of rising sea levels, beach erosion and sand replenishment.
State Budget Director Wesley Machida submitted written testimony that did not outright oppose the bill, but warned that it would reduce the amount of revenues going into the general fund by $3 million annually. Machida’s position was backed by the nonprofit Tax Foundation of Hawaii.
The Honolulu City Council is weighing legislation that would create an improvement district for Waikiki where property owners in the state’s most renowned and popular visitor destination would have to pay into a fund that would pay for maintaining and restoring iconic Waikiki Beach. That plan, which is endorsed by the Waikiki Improvement Association, is projected to generate up to $600,000.
