STAND. COM. REP. NO. 353

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2019

RE: H.B. No. 911

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Tourism & International Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 911 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TOURISM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to ensure the proper maintenance of the Hawaii Convention Center as an emergency operations center for the Hawaii Tourism Authority (Authority) during a statewide emergency by:

(1) Establishing the Convention Center Repair and Maintenance Special Fund for the repair and maintenance of the Hawaii Convention Center;

(2) Establishing the Convention Center Emergency Special Fund as a resource for the tourism industry in case of a natural disaster or other emergency;

(3) Requiring the Authority to submit annual reports to the Legislature relating to the expenditures, purposes, and balances of the Convention Center Repair and Maintenance Special Fund and Convention Center Emergency Special Fund;

(4) Prohibiting the moneys in the Convention Center Enterprise Special Fund from being used for repair and maintenance projects that are to be funded by the Convention Center Repair and Maintenance Special Fund; and

(5) Annually allocating $2,000,000 and $5,000,000 of Transient Accommodations Tax revenues to the Convention Center Repair and Maintenance Special Fund and Convention Center Emergency Special Fund, respectively, from fiscal years 2019-2020 to 2022-2023.

The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority supported this measure. The Department of Budget and Finance and Tax Foundation of Hawaii provided comments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing its effective date to July 1, 2099, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Tourism & International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 911, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 911, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Tourism & International Affairs,

____________________________

RICHARD H.K. ONISHI, Chair