Despite vacation rental crackdowns and looming legislative reforms, vacation rental supply statewide still accounts for a significant portion of Hawaii’s housing stock.

That’s why the conversion of vacation rentals into longer-term housing is seen by some as a solution that could satisfy critical housing demand in Hawaii. But so far, regulatory policies have not led to an aggregate shift toward the long-term market, as other short-term rental listings have entered the market in response, said Justin Tyndall, an author of the Hawai‘i Housing Factbook 2024, which was released in May by the nomic Research Organization, where he works as an assistant professor of economics.University of Hawaii Eco

The fact book cites statistics from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, which estimates that there are 32,000 STRs in the state, accounting for nearly 6% of the state’s entire housing inventory. While STRs aren’t necessarily in use daily, DBEDT data indicates that active listings increased 9% from 2022 to 2023.

Though Hawaii expanded its housing stock by 25,000 units, or 1.8%, from 2018 to 2022, UHERO noted that the growth was only on Oahu, which had a net increase of 23,000, and Hawaii County, which added 2,600 units. The report said Kauai and Maui saw a net loss of units, likely because “the rate of new construction has been unable to keep up with losses to the vacation rental market.”

So far, Maui is the only country to introduce a bill to amortize vacation rentals since the state gave the counties greater power to chart their own course. Kauai is staying the course. Hawaii island is working on vacation rental reforms but does not plan to amortize them.

(NewsNation) — Mexican drug cartels are expanding their reach to Hawaii, flooding the islands with methamphetamine and fentanyl, according to recent reports.

The remote location and limited law enforcement resources make Hawaii an attractive target for powerful cartels like Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Drugs are smuggled through various routes, including air passengers’ luggage, mailed packages and body carriers flying into Honolulu.

The lack of competition allows cartels to charge higher prices. An oxycodone pill selling for $2 in Los Angeles can fetch $16 or more in Hawaii.

This influx has contributed to a surge in fentanyl overdose deaths. Hawaii ranked seventh nationally with a 27% increase in fentanyl-related deaths in 2023, according to Families Against Fentanyl.

Authorities are responding to the crisis. Dennis Francis Kaleohano Kelly of Tucson, Arizona, was recently sentenced to 14 years in prison for distributing fentanyl and methamphetamine to Hawaii and New Mexico.

He had been arrested in 2021 after receiving a shipment of 10,000 fentanyl pills from a drug courier.

Honolulu has mandated that bars, nightclubs and restaurants carry the anti-overdose medication Narcan. The state is also implementing a five-year plan to promote comprehensive mental health and drug addiction treatments.

(The Center Square) – Hawaii recently entered into a settlement in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that requires the state to implement climate change initiatives by court order, setting forth a potential template for lawsuits in other states.

Thirteen young people, at least one as young as nine, filed the lawsuit against the Hawaii Department of Transportation in June 2022. They said the state DOT needed to do more to protect the state and their future from climate change.

The state spent $3 million settling the lawsuit, money the attorney general’s office said was “well-spent” to avoid a trial that would have started June 24.

The settlement provides a road map of tasks the DOT must do per the court order. These include creating a greenhouse gas reduction plan for the Hawaii Department of Transportation that could cost the state more. Only one price tag is included in the plan—$40 million for public electric charging stations and charging infrastructure for all state and county vehicles by 2030.

The agreement includes a dispute-resolution component that could keep differences out of court. But, the First Circuit of Hawaii will oversee the settlement until 2045 if Hawaii has not met its zero-emission goals.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation must receive “sufficient appropriations” from the Hawaii Legislature, but the settlement does not include a specific amount for the other requirements.

Gov. Josh Green admitted it would not be inexpensive or easy. He said the court order would help him when he had to go to the Legislature and say, “Look, we have to do this.”

“We have these policies in mind but we don’t have the resources that come from the Legislature,” Green said. “We don’t often have the absolute insistence of the courts to do certain things so having a settlement like this creates some guarantees.”

For two years, the governor has pushed for a $25 tourist fee that has not passed the Legislature.

“We have 10 million individuals that come to Hawaii every year,” Green said. “Can you imagine only for a moment if we successfully were humbly asking people to pay $25 when they came to the state? That would be $250 million every single year to pay for the bikeways, extra to bring very advanced analytics to what our carbon impact is from any of the technologies we use, money to get bond to navigate major protections against erosion of the coastline.”

Thomas Yamachika, president of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, told The Center Square, “There’s going to be some pain,” when finding money to implement the settlement’s initiatives. The Legislature passed tax breaks this year to increase the standard income tax deduction in odd years and lower tax rates for all brackets in even years. It’s possible those tax cuts could be “walked back,” Yamachika said.

Truth in Accounting, which does an annual financial analysis of the 50 states, told The Center Square that Hawaii is already $11 billion in debt.

“The state doesn’t have money sitting around that can be used for settlements like this,” said Sheila A. Weinberg, founder and CEO of Truth in Accounting. “To pay for this settlement, taxes will have to be raised or services and benefits will have to be cut. The other option is to even underfund the pension and retiree health care benefits even more.”

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Hawaii is the first to settle a climate change lawsuit, but it may not be the last. The case may set a precedent in other states where young people have filed lawsuits over climate concerns, according to an op-ed written by Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the institute’s communications director, Evan George.

“Many defendants facing climate lawsuits — notably including Hawaii officials in the earlier stages of this case — often protest that climate change policy should be made by legislatures, not judges,” Horowitz and George said in the op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times. “This landmark settlement demonstrates that the courts can hold decision-makers accountable if they fail to live up to their promises.”