HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A consortium of cruise ship operators and tour businesses have filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the state’s new law to tax cruise ships in the same way as hotels.

Cruise Lines International Association, Inc. v. Suganuma contends that Hawaii is blatantly violating the U.S. Constitution by imposing the 11% tax on out-of-state cruise passengers in January, and letting the counties add an extra 3%.

It’s the first time cruise ships would have to pay the transient accommodations tax charged to guests at hotels and vacation rentals.

“Here you have a floating hotel, right? You have a floating hotel,” said state Sen. Lynn DeCoite, who chairs the Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee. “The hotel industry has paid their fair sure for the past years.”

The group that filed the lawsuit wouldn’t do an interview. But the lawsuit claims that “As the Supreme Court long has recognized, the Constitution’s Tonnage Clause bars States from imposing any “charge for the privilege of entering, trading in, or lying in a port.”

The complaint also said, “For an average family, Act 96 will add hundreds of dollars to the cost of popular cruise itineraries that dock in Hawaii ports. That substantial price increase will cause many families to forego trips to Hawaii in favor of other destinations.”

“‘It’s going to hurt the industry and people are not going to come.’ Well then find me a tourist on your ship that is going to publicly say that. Say it publicly. If that’s the case, then this is not the place for you,” DeCoite said.

Last year, the state said more than 150,000 out-of-state cruise line passengers came to Hawaii.

“One of the challenges is because they don’t pay any tax when they come to port, yet they still have stress on the infrastructure,” said Jerry Agrusa, a professor with the University of Hawaii School of Travel Industry Management.

The new tax also includes a .75% “Green Fee” to fund projects that help the environment.

“I spoke with a lot of tourists this weekend while I was sitting there playing tourist myself and I didn’t hear anybody complain about it,” DeCoite said. “I brought up the Green Fee just like that, and they’re like, we don’t mind.”

The state Department of the Attorney General said it was just served with the complaint and won’t comment until they have a chance to review it.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A homeless man was killed Sunday after being attacked by a pack of dogs at an encampment in Wahiawa.

The property at 525 Avocado Street overlooks Lake Wilson.

It has been a source of community outrage, and lawmakers were already moving to condemn the lot and demolish the two, hollowed-out structures and container on site.

“It’s been neglected for years and years,” said Peter Schmall.

“I’ve lived in Wahiawa for 20 years and it’s been a constant problem.”

The property is near a busy intersection with Kamehameha Highway and is a visible nuisance.

When Hawaii News Now was at the location, multiple people were inside and started boarding up the windows.

The unidentified man who was mauled by his five dogs this week was treated and transported to a hospital by Honolulu Emergency Medical Services, but died from his injuries.

In 2020, police raided the place and said it housed a game room.

A city council resolution to demolish the structures is moving forward and will be before the full council in September.

The state has also been working to condemn the property.

“It’s a public safety concern,” said state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, who represents the area.

The state wants to eventually use the property as a substation for the Department of Land and Natural Resources because it is along the lake.

“In 2023, we added over $1 million in capital improvement money so we could purchase the property,” Dela Cruz said.

According to the lawmaker, the state has been trying to work with the landowner so that it could be sold.

But Dela Cruz said the owner has refused, “which is why we’re going on the condemnation route.”

City Council member Matt Weyer, who represents parts of Wahiawa, said the city has also “struggled” with communication.

“That’s really the concern, that the land owner isn’t being responsive enough,” he said.

County records list Yiu Wai Lam as the at-will manager. That is the same name as the person arrested on the property during the game room raid. His current address is a home in Kalihi Valley.

Hawaii News Now went to the home, but no one answered and a neighbor said they were not home.

Weyer said the city and state are working together to get the property cleared for use by both agencies.

“The demolition of these structures is really the first step in moving forward,” he said.

The Hawaiian Humane Society took the dogs involved in the fatal attack this week.

“The Honolulu Police Department called our teams and asked for assistance,” said Brandy Shimabukuro, the agency’s communications manager.

“Three of the dogs, when they were brought into our care, could not be safely handled by our staff and that posed an immediate public safety risk, so we had to move forward with a humane euthanasia,” she said.

Shimabukuro said that is necessary because the agency cannot adopt out a dangerous animal.

The other two dogs are still being evaluated.

Hawaiʻi officials continue to encourage the export of value-added foods — which, in turn, would also help local agriculture — after formally creating a framework to support local farmers and business owners.

This year, state lawmakers passed House Bill 774 to establish a Food and Product Innovation Network within the state Agribusiness Development Corporation.

The purpose of the network is to allow local entrepreneurs to capitalize on “made in Hawaiʻi” branding by supporting the production of value-added products, like ʻulu chips or poi with a longer shelf life.

That support is focused on processing capacity and storage facilities to help business owners and farmers scale their operations.

“These facilities will enable local producers to create value-added products, increase production capacity, and access larger markets, ultimately strengthening Hawaiʻi’s agricultural sector and boosting economic resilience,” the University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center said in a report on the FPIN prepared for the ADC.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, who’s a proponent of increasing the export of value-added goods made in Hawaiʻi, said they can use off-grade fruits and vegetables that might not be used otherwise.

“The whole idea of value-added is to help our agriculture industry. For instance, if you have tomato farmers, they can't sell, sometimes, up to 50% of their product and they end up tilling it back into the soil,” Dela Cruz said. “With value-added (goods), we've created a class of entrepreneurs who will buy the off-grades or seconds from the farmer, and they can process ketchup, tomato sauce, salsa and other products that don’t require the A-grade product.”

There’s nothing wrong with those fruits and vegetables — but they are often not sold just because they have minor cosmetic imperfections.

“It could just have a discoloration. … For bell peppers, there's three bumps instead of four. It's still good. But if you end up cutting that up and processing it into another product, then you're helping the farmer and you're helping the entrepreneur,” Dela Cruz said.

Functionally, there’s already a growing network in the state. Dela Cruz said there are education programs in schools that encourage potential entrepreneurs who may be interested in producing value-added products.

Additionally, the facilities like the Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center on Oʻahu and the Maui Food Innovation Center — both UH programs — already allow for additional processing and storage for entrepreneurs.

There are also plans for more of those facilities across the state.

Dela Cruz said HB 774 and the formal creation of the FPIN will help Hawaiʻi develop partnerships with out-of-state groups in areas where locally-made products can be exported.

“We can start to partner, we can start to do exchanges. We want to be able to do food and product innovation conferences here, inviting all the different networks — that's the external component,” he said.

He said there are similar food networks in countries like New Zealand, South Korea and the Netherlands.