Josh Green
Governor
Position Running For
Governor
What area(s) of the Island do you call home?
I’ve called Hawaiʻi Island home for more than two decades — I built my career as an emergency room and rural physician in Kona and raised my family there. As Governor, I now reside at Washington Place on Oʻahu while serving communities across the state.
What is your vision for a thriving agricultural sector on Kauai and how can the State support that vision?
Hawaiʻi imports the vast majority of its food, and that’s both an economic and a security vulnerability. My vision is a Kauaʻi where far more of what we eat is grown right here — diversified crops, ranching, aquaculture, and traditional practices like kalo all thriving on working ag land that stays in agriculture. The State’s role is to remove the barriers: protecting prime ag land from speculation, investing in irrigation and water infrastructure left behind by the plantation era, expanding access to capital and crop insurance for small farmers, and using Green Fee dollars to fight the invasive species that devastate local producers. We also have to grow the next generation of farmers through training and land access. When I cut red tape to build housing, it worked — I’ll bring that same urgency to getting our farmers the water, land, and certainty they need to feed our islands.
If elected, how would you engage with the business community prior to your decision-making?
I listen first — that’s how I’ve governed. Before we passed the nation’s first Green Fee, my Climate Advisory Team sat down with more than 60 stakeholders, including the visitor industry and local businesses, and we built something the hotel sector ultimately stood behind. That’s the model: bring people to the table early, before a decision is locked in, not after. As Governor I’ll continue direct roundtables with chambers like yours, keep my door open to employers large and small, and make sure Kauaʻi’s business community isn’t an afterthought to Honolulu. Local businesses create the jobs that let local families stay in Hawaiʻi — and you deserve a real seat in the conversation.
How would you help ensure that working middle class residents can afford to buy or rent a home on Kauaʻi?
This is the number one reason families are leaving Hawaiʻi, and it’s been my central focus from day one. When I took office we faced a shortage of roughly 50,000 homes inside a permitting system that was too slow, too costly, and too complicated. So I signed emergency housing proclamations to cut red tape, helped approve over 10,000 low-income units, and accelerated nearly 7,000 affordable units statewide — then worked with the Legislature to pass the most significant housing and zoning reforms in over 40 years. In my first term I also enacted the largest middle class tax cut in Hawaii history aimed at helping people with their housing costs. For Kauaʻi, that means more workforce and affordable rentals so teachers, nurses, and hospitality workers can actually live where they work. I’ll keep building at scale, protect renters, and expand pathways to ownership, because no one who grew up here should be priced out of home.
How would you effectively manage budget and operations compared to the past?
With discipline. We reduced state spending by $1 billion in 2023 and another $500 million in 2024 — without cutting needed services — and grew our rainy day fund to a record $1.5 billion so we’re ready for emergencies and federal uncertainty. At the same time, we delivered tax relief for working families. Good fiscal management isn’t about slogans; it’s about spending carefully, modernizing how the State operates, and keeping reserves strong so a disaster or a Washington budget fight doesn’t capsize us. I’ll keep running government like the responsibility it is — lean where we can be, generous where it counts, and always transparent with taxpayers about where their money goes.
What specific ideas do you have about economic diversification and how would you develop these areas?
I’ll continue to grow the sectors that diversify our economy and pay well: healthcare (we have a serious provider shortage I’m working to fill), technology and innovation, agriculture, film and creative industries, and clean energy. Developing them takes deliberate investment — workforce training and apprenticeships tied to real jobs, reliable broadband, smart incentives that reward companies for hiring and staying local, and partnerships with UH and the community colleges. Kauaʻi has particular strengths in agriculture and renewable energy we should build on. The goal is simple: more good jobs in more industries, so our economy — and our families — aren’t living one downturn away from crisis.
What are your priorities for infrastructure investment? How would you ensure that planned infrastructure projects (roads, wastewater, facilities, bridges, etc.) on Kauai move forward in a timely manner?
My priorities are the basics done right: safe roads and bridges, modern wastewater systems that protect our reefs and groundwater, resilient harbors and airports, and well-maintained public facilities and schools. The harder problem is delivery — too many projects die in years of process. I’ve shown this can change: the same permitting streamlining that unlocked housing can move infrastructure faster. I’ll continue to push to cut duplicative reviews without sacrificing safety or environmental protection, fund projects fully so they don’t stall mid-stream, and hold agencies accountable to real timelines. For Kauaʻi specifically, I’ll partner closely with the County and your delegation to keep priority road, bridge, and wastewater projects moving.
What is your vision for effective management of the visitor industry so that economic goals are met while ensuring community and environmental concerns are addressed?
Tourism is essential, but it has to work for residents, not just visitor counts. My approach is regenerative tourism — visitors helping to protect the very places they come to enjoy. That’s exactly what the Green Fee does: a small charge on accommodations generating about $100 million a year to restore reefs, replenish beaches, fight erosion and invasive species, and reduce wildfire risk. Kauaʻi has already led the way on managing high-impact sites, and I want to support more locally driven solutions that ease pressure on hotspots and neighborhoods. The balance I’m after: a healthy visitor economy that funds good jobs, while protecting resident quality of life, natural resources, and the culture that makes Kauaʻi, Kauaʻi.
What is your solution to best manage solid waste on Kauaʻi? Please include your views on recycling, landfill site, source reduction, and other strategies.
Solid waste is primarily a County kuleana, but the State should be a real partner, not a bystander. My approach favors moving up the waste hierarchy: aggressive source reduction first, stronger recycling and diversion, composting of organics, and modern waste-to-resource options before we ever rely on new landfill capacity. The State can help with funding, policy tools, and regional coordination so Kauaʻi isn’t solving this alone. I’ll work hand-in-hand with the County on a long-term plan that protects groundwater, reduces what’s trucked and buried, and treats waste as a resource where we can.
As an elected official, what steps would you take to mitigate the impacts of climate change on Kauaʻi?
Climate change is already here — stronger storms, erosion, drought, and wildfire risk — and Hawaiʻi can’t wait for the next disaster. That’s why I signed the nation’s first Green Fee, creating a stable funding source of roughly $100 million a year for resilience: shoreline and reef protection, fire-break and hazard mitigation, invasive species control, and adaptation to sea level rise. Kauaʻi’s communities and special places stand to benefit directly. I’ll also keep Hawaiʻi on its path to 100% renewable energy by 2045 — and Kauaʻi is already a national leader in clean energy worth building on — while hardening our infrastructure and helping families and businesses prepare. Protecting our environment isn’t separate from protecting our economy; on an island, they’re the same thing.
What else would you like to share with the business community?
I try to govern the way I practiced medicine: diagnose honestly, act decisively, and measure results. Hawaiʻi’s businesses are partners in everything I care about — lowering the cost of living, keeping our kids from leaving, and building a more resilient economy.