HONOLULU — In addition to addressing sea-level rise and climate change, Gov. Josh Green now wants income from a proposed visitor impact fee to help the state provide its own insurance to victims of future disasters following the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires.
Green called out the insurance industry’s “terrible, terrible greed” for holding up a proposed $4.037 billion “global settlement” that would resolve over 650 claims and lawsuits in the aftermath of the wildfire that killed 102 people and destroyed nearly 4,000 structures, most of them homes.
“They’ve been running roughshod over communities for decades,” Green said.
He praised local attorneys for being willing to give up the right of their insurance company clients to sue those ultimately responsible — including the state — in order to reach a settlement because “it was for the good of the community” by getting settlement money into the hands of Maui victims over three years, beginning in 2025.
But Green repeatedly told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser editorial board on Wednesday that he blames mainland lawyers representing State Farm Insurance for demanding to be able to sue to recoup their insurance payouts.
“They don’t care about Hawaii at all,” Green said. “They just want their money.”
Among several names, he called State Farm “greedy” and “ruthless” and more interested in profits than helping Maui victims become “whole.”
He accused the company of wanting to pursue lawsuits to maintain “massive profits” and “giant profits.”
In the aftermath of the Maui wildfires, Green said that State Farm “didn’t suffer. They’re just not making as many billions. … State Farm would be wise to settle this.”
If not, Green said State Farm should expect him to continue to complain to the media for months to come about its unwillingness to help its policyholders on Maui come to a settlement that would help them rebuild.
“Holding up recovery is a very large deal for me as governor and I’m going to push hard,” Green said. “They have an opportunity to do right by us.”
State Farm representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
As Hawaii tourism numbers continue to climb following the COVID-19 pandemic, state legislators are expected to again consider the possibility of charging tourists a special fee that was originally intended to offset their impacts on the environment and help the state respond to climate change.
The idea remains popular in a state of 1.4 million people who pushed back against the record-setting 10 million tourists who visited just before the pandemic hit in 2020.
Last session, legislators liked the idea of a new tourism fee in concept but could not agree on how much to charge — or how — and pledged to revisit the idea when the next session begins in January.
Now Green wants to use the potential income to help the state borrow money to provide its own disaster insurance for local residents and businesses through a “captive insurance” program he wants to develop on a large scale.
The state’s ongoing mitigation efforts to prevent future wildfire disasters through fire and smoke sensors and fire breaks also would make it easier for the state to leverage a steady stream of tourism fees to buy its own insurance to help provide policies for Hawaii residents and businesses, Green said.
So far, over 160 insurance companies have paid out $2.3 billion in claims to Maui victims, with expectations of another $1 billion in payments.
State Farm has been involved in each step of mediation that led to the tentative “global settlement” on Aug. 2, Green said.
“They made offer after offer after offer, all of which were gigantic demands,” Green said.
The insurance industry initially wanted $65 billion, then $30 billion, $12 billion and then $7 billion in the settlement, Green said.
“I’m crying foul,” he said. “… It’s really toxic from my perspective.”
Under the proposed settlement, Hawaiian Electric would pay $1.99 billion, Kamehameha Schools would pay $872.5 million and the state would pay around $750 million. Amounts by Maui County and three other defendants — West Maui Land Co., Spectrum Oceanic LLC and Hawaiian Telcom — have not been disclosed, but add up to about $400 million.
“Mainland attorneys (representing the insurance industry) want to claw back 40% of the total settlement,” Green said.
Green blamed the industry for not anticipating payouts to Maui residents and businesses, especially after a previous Maui brush fire in August 2018 burned 2,000 acres, 30 vehicles and 21 structures.
Like last year, the 2018 fire also was driven by high winds from the remnants of a hurricane.
“The fact that they didn’t get it right is on them,” Green said.
The state has joined plaintiffs’ attorneys in asking Maui’s 2nd Circuit Chief Judge Peter Cahill to ask the state Supreme Court to enforce Cahill’s ruling preventing insurance companies from pursuing damages directly from Hawaiian Electric, the state, Kamehameha Schools and Maui County.
Cahill is scheduled to consider the request Friday.
Green hopes the Supreme Court agrees with Cahill, which would have implications for the insurance industry locally, nationally and globally, Green said.
“This is going to be a very big deal,” he said.
Not reaching a settlement would lead to protracted court battles of five to seven years, Green said, and likely would bankrupt Maui County and Hawaiian Electric.
“The state would have to bail out the county and come up with a new energy model,” he said.
And an even larger, billion-dollar verdict against Kamehameha Schools would “devastate” education for Native Hawaiian children, he said.
“It’s important to settle claims as early as possible,” Green said, especially for older victims “who would never see” money from successful litigation.
Asked if he’s worried that insurance companies will leave Hawaii if the Supreme Court rules against them, Green said “we know they’re going to do it anyway because they’re already doing it.”
In Hawaii island’s Puna District, the last insurance company writing homeowner policies in Puna’s Lava Zones 1 and 2 announced it was pulling out of the market because of the ongoing threats of hurricanes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
So Green wants a new way for the state to provide insurance for future disaster victims because, he said, “it’s already a broken system.”
