The U.S. senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, recently made headlines for voting for President Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad bill. She justified her vote as choosing what was best for the people of Alaska.

While I don’t agree with the decision, there is no doubt that Sen. Murkowski has fought for the unique needs of her state. Hawaiʻi also has unique needs; however, Alaska has found a way to capitalize on their assets to the benefit of all Alaskans, creating more income equality than any other state in the process.

The Alaska Permanent Fund was established in 1976 by a constitutional amendment. It is a sovereign wealth fund created to redistribute the wealth extracted in minerals and gas revenues in the state.

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The purpose of the fund was to create a pathway to prosperity for Alaskans that would last beyond the life span of these resources. It reserves 5% of revenues collected each year from the sale of these assets and deposits these into the fund.

These assets are invested and a portion of the returns from the fund are distributed directly to residents in Alaska that have been residents for a full calendar year and intend to remain a resident indefinitely.

The first deposit into the fund in 1977 was $734,000. With 5% of revenues invested each year, the fund was worth $80.5 billion at the end of 2024.

As a result, the payout to each resident in the state was $1,702. Annual payouts average $1,200 per resident. The fund provides over 50% of the state’s general fund revenue.

Hawaiʻi’s new green fee was recently enacted into law, funded by a .75% increase in the transient accommodation tax. This is a start but not nearly sufficient enough to balance the impacts of the visitor industry on Hawaiʻi.

There are environmental impacts and there are human impacts. Hawaiʻi’s lack of authority to control how many people visit Hawaiʻi, with its delicate ecosystems and limited infrastructure, imposes negative externalities on residents as well as the environment.

Hawaiʻi’s natural beauty is essentially a resource curse. So much money is to be made in the visitor industry it crowds out all other attempts to diversify the economy and can promote corruption. Hawaiʻi has some of the highest income inequality and highest cost of living in the nation.

If Hawaiʻi was to follow Alaska’s lead, the total visitor industry revenue from 2024 was $20.78 billion, 5% of which would be $1.39 billion. What good could this money do in the pockets of locals trying to make ends meet in this increasingly untenable situation?

Climate change will continue to be a growing problem for places like Hawaii. By 2050, 40% of beaches here could be lost due to climate change. Like Alaska, we need the foresight to see the true costs of the visitor industry and put in place investments in the future of the state.

The adoption of AI could also revolutionize many jobs formerly considered stable. Alaska’s model is essentially a form of basic income, which could help to mitigate the impacts of new technologies on our workforce and give more flexibility to others who wish to pursue some of the state’s non-tourism goals, such as food sustainability, and other investments in our collective future.

The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority is currently undergoing reforms. Now would be a good time to recognize the gift that the agency has given the industry over the years in free advertising and for the industry to begin contributing their fair share to Hawaiʻi’s welfare and future.

The author’s views do not reflect the views of the organization she works for.