STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2195

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2426

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Tourism, to which was referred S.B. No. 2426 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require:

     (1)  The Hawaii Tourism Authority's marketing plan to be a single, comprehensive document; and

     (2)  The Hawaii Tourism Authority to submit a complete and detailed report of the results of the progress of its marketing plan toward achieving the Hawaii Tourism Authority's strategic plan goals as part of its annual report to the Governor and Legislature.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Auditor.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

     Your Committee finds that according to the State Auditor's 2013 report entitled "Audit of Major Contracts and Agreements of the Hawaii Tourism Authority", the Hawaii Tourism Authority's marketing plan is dispersed, unwieldy, and falls short of statutory requirements.  This measure responds to the State Auditor's findings by ensuring that the Hawaii Tourism Authority's marketing plan is a single, comprehensive document and clarifying the Hawaii Tourism Authority's reporting requirements.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting language to clarify the Hawaii Tourism Authority's powers and responsibilities, including requiring the Hawaii Tourism Authority to have a permanent, strong focus on brand management;

     (2)  Requiring the Hawaii Tourism Authority's tourism marketing plan to include certain guidance from the Authority to qualified organizations contracted to implement promotional and marketing programs that build and promote the Hawaii brand;

     (3)  Adding a definition of "Hawaii brand";

     (4)  Inserting language to permit the Authority to withhold from public disclosure competitively sensitive information under certain circumstances;

     (5)  Requiring the Hawaii Tourism Authority to additionally include, as part of its annual report, descriptions and evaluations of programs funded and any recommendations of the Authority; and

     (6)  Making housekeeping amendments throughout chapter 201B, Hawaii Revised Statutes and section 237D-6.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

     (7)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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. 2426, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2426, 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,

____________________________

GILBERT KAHELE, Chair