STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2489

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3006

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism, to which was referred S.B. No. 3006 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CONVENTION CENTER,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Exempt the Convention Center from the requirements regarding concessions on public property; and

(2) Authorize the Convention Center to sell advertising and marketing on and in the Hawaii Convention Center Facility.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority and Hawaiʻi Lodging & Tourism Association.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from UNITE HERE Local 5.

Your Committee finds that selling naming rights to the Convention Center would open multiple profit-making possibilities to fund the Convention Center's repairs and future maintenance needs. An analysis performed by ASM Global, one of the world's largest leading venue management companies, estimate that the naming rights of the Convention Center could be valued at up to $500,000 in the first year with the possibility of escalating to a twenty-year agreement value of over $13,000,000. Your Committee further finds that this measure will facilitate partnerships with the state's business community to foster mutually beneficial collaborations.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2060, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) 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 Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3006, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3006, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism,

________________________________

LYNN DECOITE, Chair