STAND. COM. REP. NO. 68

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1167

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Tourism, to which was referred S.B. No. 1167 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII TOURISM AUTHORITY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to make housekeeping amendments to the contract reporting requirements and other laws relating to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

 

     Specifically, this measure renames the title of the executive director of the Hawaii Tourism Authority to president and chief executive officer, removes the dollar amount from the contract reporting requirement and requires the Hawaii Tourism Authority to report periodically on contracts that have been entered into, and repeals the sunset date in section 14 of Act 306, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006, which, in effect, makes permanent the Authority's ability to hire its own attorneys and to exercise a level of fiscal autonomy on par with the University of Hawaii and the Department of Education.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, and Outrigger Hotels.  The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism submitted comments on this measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure will enhance the Hawaii Tourism Authority's business practices by making amendments that conform to current practices of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.  The Hawaii Tourism Authority submitted testimony stating that it currently reports all contracts and agreements that the Hawaii Tourism Authority enters into through its Executive Director's report to the Governor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Senate President.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1167, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1167, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Tourism,

 

 

 

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair