A panel advising Gov. Josh Green is urging the state Legislature to appropriate almost $2 billion over the next five years to help reduce and respond to future natural disaster damage in Hawaii.
The suggested spending is tied to about a dozen recommendations made in a report produced by the advisory group, which Green created in May, nine months after the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfire disaster caused an estimated $5 billion in damage.
Recommendations in the 58-page report by the Climate Advisory Team include helping homeowners strengthen their residences against hurricanes, enhancing natural protections from storm surges and inland flooding, expanding Firewise community programs, creating a permanent Hawai‘i Resilience Office and establishing a “properly funded” Office of the State Fire Marshal.
The team’s top recommendation is to remove invasive plant species that provide fuel for wildfires.
“The research and recommendations of the CAT as presented in this paper should be a motivation to all of us to take serious, bold action on these issues during the 2025 legislative session,” Green said in a statement Tuesday with the public release of the report. “The magnitude of the work required is sobering, but the recommendations in this policy paper show us a clear path forward for a more disaster-resilient Hawaii.”
Chris Benjamin, a retired Alexander &Baldwin Inc. CEO who in 2022 co-founded an organization now known as Climate Hawaii and was appointed chair of the CAT by Green, said in a statement that Hawaii’s geographic isolation, aging infrastructure and increasing exposure to natural disasters mandate that resilience be among the state’s highest priorities.
“Failure to increase our focus and spending on disaster readiness will jeopardize lives and our economic viability,” he said.
According to an October survey of about 600 Hawaii residents commissioned by the CAT, 71% of respondents believe that a wildfire like the one that destroyed most of Lahaina and killed 102 people could happen in their community, while 39% believe their community is prepared for a natural disaster.
To implement recommendations in the report would cost $1.875 billion over five years.
“Achieving robust resilience to weather events will be a long-term, expensive proposition for Hawaii,” the report states.
The biggest recommended five-year expense is $500 million for a fund to compensate residents who lose housing, income, transportation or personal items in a disaster but don’t have adequate financial support.
This disaster recovery fund would be available to victims depending on income, and is not intended to replace the need for insurance or to cover physical injuries or death, according to the report.
The next-biggest five-year cost item is $412.5 million for invasive plant removal.
Fortifying single-family homes against hurricanes would cost $260 million over five years under the CAT plan, and could strengthen 8,000 homes out of 150,000 believed to be vulnerable. This program is based on one established in 2011 by the Alabama Legislature.
A recommendation to protect against storm surges and inland flooding by improving natural ecosystems including beaches, sand dunes, coral reefs and native watersheds would cost $275 million over five years under the CAT plan.
Other cost items over five years proposed by the CAT include $60 million for community hubs that provide pre-disaster services and post-disaster support, $60 million to expand Firewise community programs, $15 million for a Hawai‘i Resilience Office, $15 million for an annual 3-day conference and $10 million to fund a State Fire Marshal office that was created by the Legislature last year with a $172,000 appropriation.
A recent State Fire Council report to the Legislature said the cost for a fully staffed Fire Marshal office with 42 personnel would cost $4.4 million to $6.4 million. The council also proposed a half-staffed and quarter-staffed office model, with the latter costing $1.7 million to $2.5 million.
The CAT report said not taking on the hefty recommended expenses to deal with disaster risk and impacts could cost the state, including Hawaii taxpayers, more money in the long run.
Currently, the expected amount of Hawaii property damage due to hurricane, wildfire, flood and earthquake events is $14 billion over the next 10 years, the report said.
If no new resilience measures are implemented, the report said such losses are expected to increase roughly 25% over the next 25 years due to continued warming of the planet.
“Resilience investments can generate significant reductions in expected losses,” the report said, noting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that $6 on average nationally can be averted in disaster costs for every $1 invested in mitigation.
Sources of funding for suggested spending, according to the CAT report, could include $75 million in annual interest from the state’s “Rainy Day” budget reserve fund, an increase in the transient accommodations tax, a visitor impact fee, an increase in the tax on gasoline, and federal funding.
The CAT report is the result of roughly six months of work that included research and use of paid consultants by the six-member volunteer team.
In addition to Benjamin, CAT members are:
w Denise Antolini, a retired University of Hawaii law professor whose main field of experience has been environmental law.
w Robin Campaniano, a former state insurance commissioner and insurance company CEO.
w Chip Fletcher, interim dean of UH’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.
w Kawika Riley, vice president of external affairs at Kupu, a local nonprofit helping youth build skills in areas that include environmental stewardship.
w Gwen Yamamoto Lau, executive director of the Hawai‘i Green Infrastructure Authority, a state agency that helps foster investments in clean energy.
A copy of the report is available at hawaiiclimate advisoryteam.org, where public comments can be submitted. The CAT also is scheduled to host a webinar to present its report Friday at 9:30 a.m. Registration for the webinar is available on the same website.
