House Standing Committee on Culture & Arts

Good morning everyone. Gaveling in for our 10am agenda. The day is, today is Friday, February 7th. We're in Conference Room 309 and this is the House Committee on Culture and Arts. We have two bills on the agenda today. And up first we have HB 1025 relating to the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange between East and West.

We have a handful of people who are here to testify today. We have Randall Nishiyama, Department of the AG, with comments.

Good morning. Deputy Attorney General Randall Nishiyama for the Department of the Attorney General. We've submitted our written comments and are available for any questions that you may have. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Up next, we have Interim President James K. Scott for the East west center in support via Zoom.

Aloha Chair Capella, Vice Chair Kong, and Members of the Committee. Zachary Espino, on behalf of East West Interim President Dr. James. Scott. We stand on a written testimony in support and are available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your testimony. Up next, we have DBET Director James Tokioka in support in person.

Aloha Chair. Committee Members Dennis Ling for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. DBEDT stands on its written testimony in support of this measure. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your testimony. I will also note that we also have testimony and support from Hawaii Friends of Civil Rights. That is all I have on my testifiers list. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none. Members, are there any questions? Okay. Fantastic.

We are going to continue on with our agenda. Up next we have HB 1378 relating to the state, State Foundation on Culture and Arts, establishing a performing arts grant program to support performing arts here in the State of Hawaii. We have a number of people here to testify today.

First up, we have Executive Director Karen Ewald for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts in support, in person.

Hello. Good morning. Chair Capella, Members of the Committee, Karen Ewald. I'm the Executive Director for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. We stand in support of this Bill. And I just want to quickly articulate on three points. First, we do support a General Fund appropriation for performing arts.

Performing arts has been underfunded as long as I'd been at the agency so we'd really appreciate that. Number two, the Bill does recommend using the Works of Arts Special Fund for Performing Arts. Yet we know that's not the correct use of the fund. So we would like to ask to strike Section 5.

And finally, the positions at the State Foundation that support this type of activity are all currently federally funded. We would request the total amount of 4.5 FTE be shifted from federal funds to general funds. Currently, the SSCA only has 0.5 position. That's, that's generally funded. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Director, for your testimony. Up next, we have Deputy Attorney General Alyssa Marie Kau in with comments in person. Good morning.

Good morning, Chair Kapela. Good morning, Vice Chair Garrett. My name is Alyssa Kau on behalf of the Department of the Attorney General. The Department provides comments on this measure. Specifically, we would like to highlight Section 5, which was also referred to by E.D. Ewald. The works of Special Arts Fund is currently funded by tax-exempt GO bonds.

And so if you're going to expand the use of the fund to also include performing arts, there may be a risk to the state's GO bonds and their, their tax exempt status. So we don't. That's just one thing we would want to highlight. So to rectify this issue, we would also recommend deleting Section 5.

And if you would like to expand the use of the funds to include performing arts, you could create a special section in Chapter Nine which would create the special fund. Chapter Nine already has grant standards, so that's. You wouldn't need to add any grant standards in there.

But we have recommended some language on page three or to be added in page three, line 15 that would articulate what the special fund is, that it's administered by the foundation and the revenues that would be part of the fund. We stand by for any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your testimony. Up next, we have Rick Manayan with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism with comments.

Good morning, Chair Capella and Members of the Committee. Happy Aloha Friday. On behalf of DBEDT, the, we stand in, we stand with our testimony and comments on House Bill 1378. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your testimony. We also have on the list Kai Johnson with Castle Performing Arts via Zoom.

Aloha, everyone. I'm Kai Johnson, an alumnus and current instructor for CPAC's Learning Center. I stand by my written testimony in support of the creation of the Performing Arts Grant Program. And I just have a quick comment. You know, we're always underfunded. We really struggle.

We had to cancel our second show this year and the kids are doing it through their own club funds because they really wanted to put on that. So we always need all the support we can get.

Thank you so much for your testimony. I also have Shereen Bales, individual in support. Okay. Not present. That's all I had on my testifiers list, either via Zoom or in person. I will note that there are about 23 individuals in support of this measure.

We also have testimony and support from the Maui Pop Orchestra, the Iona Contemporary Dance Theater, and I also know that I saw Castle Performing Arts Learning center along with Prince Dance Company from Hawaii Island and the Hawaii Theater center, and then numerous individuals in support.

Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this measure, either via Zoom or in person? Okay, seeing none. Are there any questions, Members? I just have a quick question for Director Ewald. Can you explain for the Committee and for myself as well a little bit about the, what's happening on the federal level regarding some of the funds?

Yes, thank you for asking. We are. I'm in touch with all of my colleagues on the continent from the state arts agencies and we are in long discussions on the potential loss of federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

We are getting some requests from the BMO Office of the White House on where the funding goes and what the impacts would be if it were lost. The main goal for us is to, at this point, save the positions that do the work.

And that's pretty much the main, the major efforts that's being made right now is to any of the federally funded positions that we have of these people that work so hard for the state arts agencies get moved into a General Fund to protect them. So. Yeah.

Okay. Thank you so much, Director.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Last call. Okay. Seeing none. We are going to recess.

Okay. Gabbling back in for decision making on our 10am agenda. We are. We're going to be voting on HB 1025, relating for the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange between East and West.

The purpose of this measure is to allow the East-West Center to receive state funds. For over 60 years, the East-West Center has served as a diplomatic resource for the state, the US and the Indo Pacific region.

They fill a vital role in cooperative study, research and dialogue, promoting better relations between the US and nations of the East. With that, I recommend passing this measure with amendments. We are going to be taking in the AG's comments.

We're going to be adding in a preamble to better explain the Legislature's intent for this measure and defecting the date to July 1, 3000. Members, are there any questions, comments or concerns? Okay. Seeing none. Representative Garrett for the vote.

My pleasure, Chair. Members voting on House Bill 1025. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Roll Call] Chair your recommendations adopted.

Thank you so much for HB 1378 relating to the state art, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. We are going to be deferring decision making on this measure until next week, Wednesday, February 12th. There are a number of different issues to work on in relation to this based on the testimony from the AG and the departments.

So we will be back on February 12th for the decision making on that measure. Thank you so much. We're adjourned.