Bill Text: HI SB1227 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Hawaii Tourism Authority; Department of Tourism
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [SB1227 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-SB1227-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 833
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 1227
S.D. 2
Honorable Colleen Hanabusa
President of the Senate
Twenty-Fifth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2009
State of Hawaii
Madam:
Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1227, S.D. 1, 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 establish the Department of Tourism.
Specifically, this measure:
(1) Establishes the Department of Tourism as an executive department and changes the name of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to the Department of Business and Economic Development;
(2) Dissolves the Hawaii Tourism Authority;
(3) Transfers the Convention Center enterprise special fund, the tourism special fund, and the tourism emergency trust fund to the Department of Tourism; and
(4) Establishes an interagency working group to facilitate the transition of rights, powers, functions, and duties from the Hawaii Tourism Authority to the Department of Tourism.
Your Committee received six written comments on this measure. The written comments may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.
Your Committee finds that establishing a new executive agency that is charged with the focused oversight of Hawaii's tourism industry would maintain and expand Hawaii's domestic and international tourism market. Your Committee recognizes that tourism is one of the primary industries in the State and that the State's economic health depends heavily on the success of the visitor industry. Your Committee believes that an agency dedicated to tourism oversight would help increase visitor expenditures, tax revenue, and employment in the tourism industry.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Specifying that the tourism emergency trust fund may be used to provide emergency assistance to tourists during a declared tourism emergency;
(2) Clarifying that a remaining balance in the tourism special fund that is not appropriated by the Legislature shall be transferred to the general fund in any given fiscal year;
(3) Changing the effective date to January 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on this measure; and
(4) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1227, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1227, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
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____________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair |
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