Gov. Josh Green signed 16 bills into law addressing environmental conservation and regenerative tourism.
Hawaiʻi attracts about 10 million tourists a year. One measure would have the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority establish destination management plans for each island.
The plans are supposed to focus both on bringing economic benefits to local communities and preserving and supporting the state’s natural resources.
This law comes as the HTA is considering significant changes to its organizational structure after struggling to secure funding from the state legislature in years past.
Green welcomed changes to the HTA.
“If we’re going to continue to have a lot of people coming, we have to find a way to sustain it,” he said. “So this sets the stage by amending the way we do HTA’s work and emphasizing strategic tourism management that regenerates and has a special Native Hawaiian focus and that is obviously the right thing to do.”
Coastal erosion was another topic that Green addressed. He signed a measure that would provide funding to the University of Hawaiʻi so it can create a North Shore Beach Management plan.
The plan will be used to guide the state in future shoreline management and will be completed by December 2025.
Green also signed a measure that would ban deep seabed mining due to environmental risks.
He has until Wednesday to sign or veto any remaining bills.