The U.S. Department of Justice seeks to enter the Cruise Lines International Association's lawsuit that challenges Hawaii's 11% cruise tax.
The federal government filed a motion to intervene in the litigation on Nov. 13. The motion is under review.
Hawaii's cruise tax is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. It is part of a broader new law in Hawaii known as the "green fee," which designates funds raised through taxation on tourism to climate resilience and other environmental causes.
CLIA sued the state of Hawaii on Aug. 27 in U.S. District Court in Honolulu on behalf of the cruise industry, arguing that the law violates the Constitution's Tonnage Clause and the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1884. Both laws include language about limits to taxation on ships.
In its motion to intervene, the DOJ similarly stated that Hawaii's tax violates those laws. It also argued that the tax "preys upon American businesses and tourists."
"Hawaii unabashedly boasts that this revenue is not for the purpose of paying for services actually provided to incoming cruise ships or their passengers, but for funding climate change initiatives in Hawaii," the motion says. "This scheme to extort American citizens and businesses solely to benefit Hawaii flies in the face of federal law twice over, conflicting both with the Tonnage Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1884."