HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

80

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING AN AUDIT OF THE HAWAII CONVENTION CENTER.

 

 

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Convention Center was built at a cost of three hundred fifty million dollars and opened for operations in 1998; and

WHEREAS, the State is spending about forty-seven million dollars each year for the Hawaii Convention Center, including five million six hundred thousand dollars for promotions, twenty-five million five thousand dollars for debt service, about sixteen million dollars for operating and non-operating expenses; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Convention Center is marketed and operated by SMG, a Philadelphia company, which also markets many other competing convention centers in the United States; and

WHEREAS, while the Hawaii Convention Center bookings for 2004 and 2005 are acceptable, future bookings for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 are very weak and a matter of serious concern; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, that the Auditor is requested to conduct a program and financial audit of the Hawaii Convention Center; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2005; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the agent for the

general foreign partnership SMG, the Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Governor, and the Auditor.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Hawaii Convention Center; Audit