Senate Standing Committee on Economic Development and Tourism

Aloha, and welcome to the hearing with the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tourism. Today is March 11, 2025. This is our 1:00pm agenda, and we are in Conference Room 229. This hearing is being streamed live on YouTube. In the unlikely event that we must abruptly end this hearing due to technical difficulties, the Committee will reconvene on Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 1:01pm in Conference Room 229. This Committee has a 90 minute time slot, so there will be a one minute time limit for all testifiers.

Today's agenda includes five House Bills and four GMs for various boards. First on the agenda, HB 934, relating to the Hawaii Broadband and Digital Equity Office. First up on the testifiers list, we have Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke.

Good afternoon, Chair and Vice Chair and Committee Members. This bill is, we have some suggested amendments, but we are in support of the original intent. And thank you for your assistance with this bill as well.

Thank you. Next up, Christine Sakuda testifying for Hawaii Office of Enterprise and Technology Services.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Christine Sakuda, State Chief Information Officer. We humbly offer comments on this bill. We strongly support the Connect Kākou Initiative, and we believe firmly that everyone should have access to high speed Internet. We request full funding in order for the operations to be successful. Thank you very much. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Next up, Director Tokioka with Department of Business and Economic Development. Thank you. Next up, Randy Leong, Cable Television Administrator, DCCA.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Kevin Nishimoto on behalf of Randy Leong. We support this measure. We are offering some amendments to help consolidate all the various state responsibilities into one, but otherwise we stand on our written testimony, and we'll be available for questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Garret Yoshimi testifying for University of Hawaii System.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Standing here in representing the interests of the state in the implementation of the federal broadband funds and significant broadband funds in support of the bill. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Next up, Daintry Bartoldus testifying for Hawaii State Council Developmental Disabilities.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members. Savannah Peskin with the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities here on behalf of Daintry Bartoldus. We'll stand on our written testimony in support and are available for any questions. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Next up, Kiran Polk testifying for Kapolei Chamber of Commerce.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Kiran Polk, CEO of Kapolei Chamber of Commerce. We stand on our written testimony. We do have concerns regarding the language added in the HD 1, specifically the line that says excluding the deployment of broadband infrastructure for provision of retail service. We strongly support this measure.

We strongly support of course digital equity and broadband. But we have some concerns with this language. It doesn't align with the intent of this bill, and it could result in unintended consequences down the line. The bill itself does have checks and balances, including a committee, steering committee as to where those funds will go, and we suggest relying on that instead of including this language in the bill. Thank you. I'm here for any questions.

Next up, Rich Bettini testifying for Waianae Comprehensive Center.

I signed up. Maybe I put his name. Aloha kākou, and nice to see everyone. I really appreciate the time. So we are, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center is in support of the bill with an amendment. Same as Ms. Polk just mentioned. We are truly concerned about the amendment that was added excluding broadband infrastructure for retail service.

This really could, there is potential, like she said, for unintended consequences, which is squashing community led innovative ways to address where we know there is a gap in our local, in our community and our local communities for those that are unsheltered and those that are living at or below the poverty level. ForWaianae Coast Comprehensive, 70% of our patient population live at or below the federal poverty level.

And I will have to say that I also agree with the fact that there's already a clear framework in this bill that allows, who I believe I'm very confident in my elected officials to make the right decision for public interest and for local communities. And so I don't think there needs to be an addition there. So mahalo for your time. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Next up, Jeannine Souki testifying for Hawaiian Telcom with comments. Rebecca Lieberman, Director of Government Affairs for Charter Communications here.

Good afternoon. Rebecca Lieberman with Charter Communications. I'm here to stand on my written testimony in support. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Sean Taketa McLaughlin as an individual.

Aloha. Thank you for this opportunity, as brief as it is. I would just want to note that none of the testimony that you have written is available to the public right now. So we can't respond to any of the other testimony, where people stood on their written testimony. I also want to share with you that in the big picture I've been doing work across the nation in this regard.

There are states that are successful have two main tracks. One track that you're addressing today is rationalizing and making coherent the state's investment policies. How are you investing public funds, federal funds, state funds, community investments.

And I think it's very important what you're doing, and so I support this measure. I think you have to be careful that it's not anticompetitive as a result of the interventions of particular industry players. And I hope that you will attend to that.

I think the other track that's really critical that maybe we can work on next year is doing the same kind of rationalization for the regulatory regime. These are essentially unregulated communication utilities. They have captured the DCCA and the PUC. And so you're dealing with industries that are not regulated, really. Thank you.

Next up, Daniel Smith on Zoom. Go ahead, Daniel.

Yes. Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members. I'm Dan Smith. I strongly support the this bill, but with the change made by HD 1 removed. I want to commend to you the written and oral testimony of Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce.

We need flexibility to implement projects, creative projects, and I have done those throughout the Central Pacific, and for 23 years the airplanes of Hawaiian Airlines. So restore the original language on projects. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next up, Kaili Swan on Zoom.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members. I support this measure because I use the broadband and data, and I strip a suite. I left my mom and I pay my phone bills through Verizon. It's like 100 a month. If it passes bills so I can get more discounted price, so I can use my Internet. So that's my testimony, and please let me know if you have any question. Mahalo.

Thank you. Next up, Faith Tuipulotu in support. Is there anybody else wishing to testify in support of the measure? Sir.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair. I'm Jack Lewin, Administrator of SHPDA. I would like to concur with the recommendation made by Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and Kapolei Community Board. I think that additional language actually might limit some projects in rural areas that could be helpful for some, particularly for some patients that aren't going to have services otherwise. So I think that that change would be, would be helpful. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else wishing to testify on the measure? Seeing none. Members, any question? LG please. Sorry. LG, since you have been instrumental in moving the state's broadband efforts forward, how would this bill and amendments you recommend strengthen our efforts?

Yeah, thank you for that. You know, thanks to the federal government, the State of Hawaii has or we'll be in a position to receive about 400, close to $500 million in broadband funding. The broadband plan is multifaceted. And you know, I mean, Chair as your, you and your work of the Molokai community has been really significant in ensuring that we have broadband access throughout the entire state.

So broadband infrastructure and broadband efforts are multifaceted. So one of them is to lay lines, undersea cable lines between the islands so that we can connect it. The second thing is getting devices to individuals who don't have devices. Because during COVID, we understood that a lot of people, even if we have the lines, they don't have devices.

The third thing, which is the most critical part, is the know how. No matter how many devices you give out, no matter how many lines that we set up, if people don't know how to use broadband, then it's basically money wasted. So in order to do all that, it's consolidating some of the efforts into a broadband office.

So that's why moving it under the CIO to ensure that we have a pretty good plan on what do we do with the undersea cable lines that is being laid using federal funds. If revenues are generated, what are we going to use that money for? So it's no longer a digital equity mandate. It's broadband because it's going to be expensive. Will we use that for navigators?

So, for instance, to hire individuals who will teach people how to use a broadband. Or is it to defray people's Internet cost as what the, what was the Affordable Connectivity Program? There are so many things that we can do, and this effort will help streamline and ensure that we provide the services for our very, especially in our rural communities.

So the navigator part of what your amendments request was, does the navigator part of it also ensure or is it a separate pot of funding on the infrastructure when you look at it?

Correct. So the navigators are individuals. So for instance, if you go to the Apple Store, you can ask one of the Geniuses to figure out how to use your iPhone or iPad. So these navigators will be stationed in public places, including the libraries, to teach people how to use the broadband service.

So right now we have, we're working with the library system to have individuals to answer questions. So individuals who are supposed to fill out online application, you know, they can call these navigator services to help you through some of these things. So, you know, I mean, we're entering into a very exciting time in our state where we can provide services to individuals who never had services before.

Thank you, LG. Anybody else, any questions?

So under, under this bill, we're creating the Digital Equity Special Fund?

So one of the recommendations that we have is we would like to, as opposed to a special fund, it will be a revolving fund. So the revolving fund, the intent of the revolving fund is monies generated from leasing out the broadband infrastructure lines.

If we generate income, then the state can figure out what to do with the income and then give it back into the, use it for community benefit, whether it's to hire more people to teach people how to use the Internet or defray people's Internet costs, or in certain situation, work with the communities to see what is the best use of those revenues. So because of that, it will be a revolving fund.

So what happens when there's not enough money in the revolving fund?

I think in this situation, I mean, we will be limited by the amount that is generated from income. So it's never a situation where we have a plan and we try to figure out, we have a grandiose plan and say, hey, you know what, we cannot do all these things.

We'll always be restricted by the income that is generated. So, for instance, the estimated income that could potentially be generated is about $1.0 million a year from lease terms. So from the $1.0 million, what are we going to use that money for?

Okay, because, you know, my experiences with these funds, at some point they get depleted and then they come in and ask the Legislature for funding. I mean, we've seen that with Cancer Center, the tobacco tax, and so forth.

And so I definitely agree, and that's why I think it should be a revolving fund. It should be the amount that is generated. And if there's no amount that's generated, then, you know, I mean, there has to be a plan that is clearly tied to amount that is generated.

So the amount that is generated, the state can figure out what to do. So it should be limited to that. And it's not the intent where we have this plan and then this revolving fund or the special fund will support all these future.

I hope that we put that somewhere in the intent because you know how intent changes, and then they come in and change the bill because now it's not funded so forth. So you don't anticipate, other than the federal funds that come in, that they're going to be a lot of state funding that's going to go into this?

No. And then, so that's why even the navigator positions, we're not asking for state funds. We are asking for positions. And so we're hoping that we maximize the federal funds. And once those positions are established, once the revenues are generated, then perhaps we can supplant that with the revenues generated.

Are we expecting more funding from the feds in light of what's going on? I mean, are we guaranteed we're going to get these funds, and then are you going to keep needing an infusion of federal funds, or this is going to be it?

Yeah, you know, I think for now, what we know of as of right now is this is limited to what it is. So we at least know potentially what is the amount that is coming to the state. For now, there is commitment by the federal government that, for the infrastructure funding, this is something that is ongoing. So thanks to Garret Yoshimi, thanks to our broadband office, they've been in constant communication with the federal offices to ensure that those things continue.

Okay, last question. Is the CIO is the one that's going to implement this?

The CIO, this, we envision this to be an attached agency working closely with the CIO. We do not expect the CIO to oversee the function of this office because, although it is under the CIO, because we have to work in conjunction with the state's IT infrastructure, we expect that will be working...

So the Governor appoints the head of this office?

Correct.

And with confirmation?

One of the position, including Mr. Chung Chang position, is with confirmation, advise and consent.

Thank you. Any other questions?

I'll see none. Moving on to. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to HB 97. First up, Jerry Bunk from acting Insurance Commissioner.

Hi there. Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, my name is Kathleen, sitting in for acting Commissioner. Insurance Commissioner Jerry Bump. We do stand on our comments and we request that a change be made just to be in line with the licensing requirements. Very important. Thank you. I'm available for questions. Thank you.

Next up, Duke De Haas, Vice President Couture of AGA Service Co. Allianz on Zoom. Allianz on Zoom. It. Yes, they're available. Okay, thank you.

Hi, good afternoon. Duke De Haas with Allianz here in Richmond, Virginia. I'm also here on behalf of the U.S. travel Insurance Association, for which I'm law and Reg Co-Chair. Thank you. Chair and co chair for the opportunity to appear before you. Sorry, very sorry I'm not there in person.

Look forward to coming to your beautiful state in October. Stand on our testimony and happy to answer any questions. And again, thank you for the opportunity and thank you for your time considering travel insurance.

Thank you. Next up, Michael Bryan, U.S. travel Insurance Association American Property Casualty Insurance Association on Zoom. Not available on Zoom Chair. Anybody else wishing to testify on this measure seeing non Members. Any questions?

Insurance, Insurance, please.

Commissioner, TCC.

Is there a problem now that the recent franchise bill. I'm sorry, is there a problem that we have that warrants this measure?

You know, perhaps not from the insurance division's perspective, but it does sound like, you know, industry would prefer a framework, and that's fine, you know, to have some type of framework in place for this, for this product, the travel product, by putting together, I guess I'm trying to find out why it's necessary.

We put so many regulations and so many frameworks together. I'm just wondering if it's a, if it's a bill in search of a problem or it's looking to fix something.

Industry just wants to have more control, you know, I don't know, but that's why I'm asking. I've not heard of any issues or problems in this area.

Yeah, I mean, you know, it, it. I think maybe industry is. Is, you know, maybe can better speak to why they want the bill. I mean, in some ways, we view the bill as just putting into statute a lot of the things that, you know, everybody already does. We don't have a problem with this particular product.

We don't have a problem with the industry, with. With any of it. So. But, you know, nevertheless, it is a NAIC model. A lot of states have adopted it in various versions. And so, you know, I think maybe they would be the better entity to ask.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So is there someone from.

Can you. Come on. God, I just, like, fall up. So the bill establishes a new regulatory framework for the sale of travel insurance. So if this is needed, how will it benefit consumers if the bill passes? And do you see any problems in administering this as a new law?

Well, I think as with any framework, the intent and the purpose is for uniformity of the product also with certain, you know, notification requirements and things of that sort. In terms of the implementation, as I said, it does appear to put into statute what I think the industry already does fairly well. You know, so there's that.

And, you know, if they have an issue with licensing, maybe they would be the better ones to speak to it. But we're. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if that answers you.

I would assume you need additional resources if you had to.

Well, this, this particular bill does not have a rate review component. It just has a, you know, a form review component, which we do anyway. You know, so. Okay. Yeah, thank you.

Can I get somebody from the insurance, either Duke De Haas or Michael Bryan?

Hi, sorry. Could. Can you hear me?

Yes. So why is this bill needed? Is there a problem that you folks experience or is there something that we don't know about?

No, not at all. Well, we do think it's needed. Hawaii is a great state and there is a limited lines model that goes back a decade that Hawaii is not enacted yet. And the regulatory framework being consistent around the country, we think is good for consumers and industry and regulators. As we heard the division just testify.

I'm so happy to answer detailed questions, but 37 states have already done this and we are just seeking to have this in place in all 50 states and it's been active.

How does it benefit consumers?

It benefits consumers by enshrining consumer protections that are in the model into Hawaii law. I can give a couple of examples, but it would be sort of left to the Unfair Trade Practices act General provisions if these consumer protections were not included.

So I can give a couple of examples of ones that are in the legislation, but that is just one example.

But aren't they already protected?

Yes, there are many protections already, but there are actually specific ones in this legislation that are not in Hawaii law currently.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions? I see none. Moving on to HB448 relating to technology enablement. First up, Sandy Kanamori testifying for Hawaii Technology Development Corporation.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee [unintelligible] sitting against for Sandy Kanemori, ACDC stands on a written testimony for this bill. Just want to say thank you for hearing this bill.

As you know, technology is a big part of our state economy and you know, we're super excited to be able to possibly get tech enablement out to various industries like tourism, like fashion, like food and various other industries that we really think that will help leverage the statewide economic impact leveraging technology.

So I'm here to answer any questions and thank you very much for the opportunity.

Thank you. Next up, Daniel testifying for Ahoy Tourism Authority. Hello, Chair, Vice Chair, Members. On behalf of Daniel. He's not sick. Today we stand on our written testimony. Thank you. I Next up, Sheri Manor testifying on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, thank you.

Next up, Lauren Zurbo testifying for Hawaii Food Industry Association.

Thank you, Chair. We'll stand on our testimony and strong support.

Hello. Thank you. I have Maui Chamber of Commerce Pam Tunpap in support. Michael Matsumoto testifying for SSFM International support and Eric Deal or KooLao Distillery also in support. Summer Shigi testifying for 10 tomorrow in support and Chinoa Farnsworth for Blue Startups and support. Anybody else wishing to testify on this measure seeing non Members. Any questions?

Senator Wakai Wayne.

Trying to understand the scope of this measures, you're going to be expected to create like a platform and then help Hawaii small businesses sell their goods or services to visitors.

Good afternoon, Sam.

So I think it's a variety of different types of technology. So we have like digital platforms, which includes E commerce, which includes ar, VR, visual reality. So I think right now a lot of our partners, including with HT and some of our other chamber partners, have identified problems.

And I think as far as HCD is concerned, we need to. We have the know how well, our partners have the know of how to leverage technology, whether it's fashion, whether it's food, to really leverage this technology to really try and grow the state economy. Right.

Because right now we are in a situation where we have a shortage of labor. We need to understand how we can leverage some of the new up and coming technologies to really leverage our small businesses to get them to be more globally competitive.

So it'll be a wide range of different types of technologies, whether it's robotics, whether it's digital platforms, whether it's E commerce. Right. So I think it's going to be determined of what the need is and what problem. We're not going to just go out there and do stuff.

It's really about addressing problems and see how we can leverage technology to fit those problems.

So right now the Bill has no specific dollar appropriation. Can you just give us a ballpark figure as to how much you think it's going to cost us?

So we're going to leverage our federal program, which is the NIST MEP program, which helps manufacturers and whatever we can get to help leverage and to match that. That would be. I mean, right now we envision it would be, you know, to do training, statewide training for rural support, especially on the neighbor islands.

So it would, you know, again, have to include consultants.

So it's a dollar figure.

It's kind of hard to say at this point, but I mean, whatever the legislatures are able to provide would be helpful to. As far as the expansion of the program.

As this program potentially rolls out, are you going to make a concerted effort to make sure that local companies are the ones that are contracted to do the work? I mean, what bothers me is that we do all these software development projects and in mainland software companies are doing it.

The CIO just had an auction site, you know, for like confiscated items that the state sells and that was given to a mainland company last or two weeks ago.

We had the app for the digital AG form that was given to a Mainland company with this program, are you anticipating that you could actually utilize local companies to help promote local.

That would definitely be our priorities to do our local first. So we have as some of other HD programs they need to be Hawaii based businesses but it all depends, right. I think there's some technologies that aren't here yet in Hawaii. So at that point we would have to probably want to partner with a local business. Right.

And have them bring in their expertise from other parts of outside the state. But our goal is to yes, partner with local companies that can help to deliver the technology piece for this, for this bill.

Thank you sir. Thank you. Senator Kim.

I'm a little troubled by a response and your answer when you asked by Senator Makai how much money you need, I mean how much we can give you? I mean, I mean I think program. What kind of program and plan you have that you have no idea is just how much you're willing to give us.

I mean to me that doesn't mean that you, you kind of know what this is going to do.

So I think our initial one conversations, again we would have to consult with our DBED Executive office but I think the initial was like about 200,000 would be a roundabout so that we can actually have and pay our local consultants.

As Senator Wakai talked about using local resources to really help develop especially when there's going to be travel involved. We want to do.

So what's the return on investment? What do you folks estimate is the return on investment?

So the return on investment is we want to make sure that these companies are going to grow their local workforce using technology and also paying for higher paying jobs.

And have you surveyed these companies and. Have they told you that we have?

Yes, we have. So we've had from our other HCDC programs that we do have surveys and results and saying that part of some of the help that they need is tech enablement.

Tech enablement for what? For this particular purpose or tech enablement period.

Tech enablement to grow their business. Right. How do we, how do we grow to make their business more globally competitive using technology?

Because you're specifically talking about tourism sector.

So that includes tourism sector. That is correct. So how do we leverage like app, mobile apps, tourism.

I'm just trying to connect when they say they need help with their, with their global outreach and so forth. Reach. He's wondering how much of that is actually tourism. How much of that is actually just.

So we will be doing some assessment. Obviously we're not going to just go out and roll up programs. It is going to be some assessment with data to show that these are definitely enablement issues that you know, we can help. Which includes broadband. Right. For a lot of our rural areas we need broadband.

So it's how do we get that?

Do you do that first or do you get the money first?

We also the assessment has already been somewhat proliferated through our partners with the chamber. Right. They have the chamber blueprint. We have the SEDs report that our economic development communities do. So we're going to use that as a baseline, as a starting point.

And is this a one time ask?

We're hoping that we would be able to continue depending on again the results that we can show you that this program is successful.

For how long? I mean again, you know, I see a half baked plan and program right now. Understand, unless you guys come up with something more definitive. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Seeing none. I'm going to move on to HB455 relating to small business loans. First up, Director Tokyoka with Department Business Economic Development Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Thank you. Next up, HB4.5. Sorry. Next up, Allison Escato, Attorney General on Zoom. Right here.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, we submitted written testimony recommending inclusion of an explanation as to why special fund is necessary as opposed to a General Fund appropriation. The reason for this is just to comply with the technical requirements of the statute to create special funds. I'm available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Director of Budget Finance Luis Salavaria with comments. Next up, Joshua Wish on Holomore Collaborative.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members, Josh Wish with Honolulu Collaborative. I'll largely stand on my written testimony. Just wanted to summarize that the basic goal of this program is that there are programs within the Department right now that help with small businesses, but there aren't really many that help with startup businesses.

The ones that specifically have some of the biggest problem getting access to capital to gear up. And so this would provide a method to fill that gap a little bit as we're trying to help launch new small businesses in the state. Thanks very much. I appreciate you considering the Bill.

Thank you. Next up, Sher Manor testifying for Chamber of Commerce Hawaii. Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair. Thank you. Next up, Tamia Machiko justifying for Tax foundation of Hawaii on Zoom.

Good afternoon. This is Jade Mcmillan on behalf of the Tax Foundation for Tax for Tom Yamachika. We have some comments on the measure. Generally we are not big fans of special funds in Our comments, we noted that we don't see that there is any indication that the proposed fund can be self sustaining. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Lauren.

Thank you, Chair. We will stand on our testimony and strong support. Mahalo.

Thank you. In support, Pam Tupac, Tessa Fine for Bao Maui Chamber of Commerce, Mellie James from Mana up. In support, Michael Kanye White Community Foundation. In support, Mike, Mike Pietsch testifying for title guarantee. In support, Jason Fujimoto and Brandon Caruso testifying. Also in support, anybody else wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing non Members. Any questions?

Yeah, I guess. Question to Senator. Am I asking the right question? So, yeah. Why special funds?

It's a loan program and in theory they'll be repaying the loan and for that money to come back into the fund so that then we could reloan to other companies and keep this going. That that would be the intent. Currently we have our CBED program and we already have a revolving loan fund and it's been very successful.

We've done a drawdown of a million and a quarter dollars and from Federal Government and we already have $300,000 back in to the fund which we're reloading. And so that would be the intent of this.

Yeah, but we all know startups, success of startups are percentage. And so what happens when this fund doesn't replenish itself?

Well, I think we're supposed to write administrative rules here and I think we would be very, very thoughtful on how we did that and how we were lending the money out. You know, we'd be investing in people, entrepreneurs.

I think it would be a very sort of a competitive thing just because it'd be basically based on business plan and an entrepreneur, you know, not a company that's been in revenue for a year or two years like our regular CBED program.

So I think if we did a good job with that, hopefully we would keep defaults to a minimum. You know, that would be our intent. That would be our goal to make sure that they could repay the loan.

And also for a small company, by doing a loan like this, they could get credit history and grow and then maybe go onto a CBED loan or actually a bank loan at some point for expansion.

What kind of funding are we talking about?

I think it's for $500,000 to start out. And then we were also asking for a loan officer position.

I'm sorry?

Zero, we were asking for a loan officer position. Right now we would use sort of the resources we're already using for our CBED revolving loan fund. We're like pushing almost 20 loans now, but we are going to be sort of stretched a little thin. We could really use a loan office. Her position.

Senator Wakai just want to address the. AG's commentary that they don't think it's a special fund is appropriate. So could we change that to a revolving fund and that would.

Yes, I, I sometimes I get confused because in the past they said we revolving funds. They said you could call them a special fund. I'm not sure. But it would be money coming back into the fund. Yes, correct.

Okay, so we can change that to address the ages concerns.

Zero, can you come in real quick? I just going to quit. So is it the intent? I mean have you guys considered contracting this loan program to a financial institution?

For our CBED loan program we basically leverage our money when we do a loan and so we usually put in half the money and then we usually have a co lending partner. So so we work with CDFIs, we work with the Hawaii Community Reinvestment Corp.

We work with Feed the Hunger Fund, we work with Wynnette Economic Development Council has a bikini fund and we work with other organizations so we could do co lending and I think the Bill allows us to do that. And so we would try to leverage our money and make it go twice as far.

And also those people can sort of help with some of the underwriting and loan servicing and things.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none. Moving on to HB 1405 relating to permits. First up, DBED Director Tokioka.

Good afternoon Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Dane Wicker, Deputy Director of DBED. And we stand on our testimony and support with amendments. Thank you.

Next up, testifying for Pacific Resource Partnership, Andrew Pereira. Thank you. Next up, Sharon Manor testifying for Chamber of Commerce Hawaii.

Good afternoon, Chair. Vice Chair.

Thank you. Next up, Lauren Zerbo testify Hawaii Food Industry Association on Zoom.

Thank you Chair. We will stand on our testimony and strong support as permitting is really important to our Members and it's definitely driven up the cost of food locally.

Thank you. So I have 1234568 people also testifying in support. Anybody else in the room wanting to testify in support of the measure? Seeing none. Members, any questions?

Questions for Dee please. So this establishes a whole new, a.

Whole new framework for a whole new framework for an existing section in hrs. So we looked at this facilitated permit process. There's no resources or staff currently within dvet. We could not find a prior project that used this process.

But this would be what permits, city permits.

So that is unclear what we. It's looking at the bill and trying to understand what projects could come our way. It could be projects that deal with several state agencies as well as running across DBED programs, whether it's OPSD or HHFDC. So I don't know clearly yet what those projects would be.

So permits for what I.

That's. I don't know what those projects are right now. And looking at this bill, it's. It's very broad.

Yeah. I mean, I can't understand what are we making a construction permit?

I would think it's something in looking at. Looking at potentially some possible projects. It could be construction housing, which if it's under HHFDC or HCDA, there is. They have their processes, but you don't have the.

You don't have the expertise, right?

No. So if we were to undertake. That's why we're asking for those amendments and the resources to do a digital platform, at least one person to administer.

I mean, if you don't have the expertise and you have no idea what kind of permits, how are you going to put this. Put this whole organization together.

That's what the amendments were asking for, is to bring that expertise.

Creating a whole. What kind of cost are we talking about?

So I understand there is. The communities are asking for quicker ways to do permitting. So again, I don't know what those projects are. We're looking at this bill on how we can implement if we're asked to from the Legislature and to do that, we put in amendments on how we would stand. No, it's not.

It's a. It seems like we're creating a company. I don't know, having been in the city, haven't been the chair of the zoning committee for that many years. And I'm looking at this and I can't make heads or tails and I'm sure the public can as to. And you yourself don't know what kind of permits.

We don't know what projects specifically permits.

And projects run the gamut and see. So I mean, so it's not yet.

It's already existing statute. But if we were to utilize it, we took a look at what the statute would allow for. Again, what type of projects. We're not clear yet. But if we're able. If we were to.

Just because we have a statue doesn't necessarily. I don't know when that statue was passed and I don't know what the intent was for that statue back then, but just because there is a statue, maybe we shouldn't have a statue.

In doing some discussion, we couldn't find anything on the books. But looking at some discussion, one of the potential projects for the creation could have been the undersea cable or broadband at the time.

Okay, so that was specific. So it doesn't necessarily mean, does it?

But those projects were never submitted or moved forward.

And again, an unintended consequence of some of these statues that we passed because there's no opposition or, you know, you just put things on the books because it's scary to think that we're going to shore up this entire. On a whim. I shouldn't say a whim on an idea that there's going to be a project.

You have no idea what kind of project, no idea what kind of expertise you're going to need. You're going to put money, taxpayers, dollars and positions.

We put the amendments in there as an ask from the Legislature. If we were to implement, this is what we would do to implement. So that's our testimony. I do hear your concerns.

Thank you.

Okay, after that brutal response, anybody else have any questions? Okay, seeing none. Let's move on to... Oh, Senator Awa, you have any questions? Okay, seeing none, let's move on to GM 511, submitting for consideration and confirmation to the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Tourism Authority gubernatorial nominee Lisa Paulson for term to expire 6-30-2027. First up, Daniel Nahoopii testifying on behalf of HDA.

Thank you. Next up, Director Tokioka on behalf of DBEDT. Thank you. Next up, CEO of HTA, President, in support, Mufi Hannemann. Next up, Marsha Sharpe testifying from Maui Foodbank in support. Karen Nakaoka, HVCB member, in support. Joe Chee, Maui Foodbank treasurer, in support. Brian Etheredge, Maui Foodbank board member, in support.

Gil Keith-Agaran in support. Michele McLean in support. Karin S. Carlson in support. John Pele, Maui Hotel and Lodging Association, Executive Director, in support. Moana Lutey, also in support. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify on the individual? Seeing none. If, Lisa, you would come up and introduce yourself and give us a brief background. Thank you.

Aloha, Committee Members. My name is Lisa Paulson, and I've been blessed to live on the island for 30 years, the island of Maui. And to have many positions both with government and nonprofit and always able to work with the community. Strong believer in giving back, and I look forward to serving in this capacity. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, Members, any questions for the appointee? Senator Kim.

Hi. Good afternoon, and thank you so much for being willing to serve. You've been on the board serving now for...

Since January.

Since January of this year?

Correct, yes.

Okay. And so far you've been to about two, three meetings?

Three board meetings and then a couple of standing committee meetings.

And what have been your, what have been your experience, and how has this serving time fit in with what you had expected or what you thought was going to be like?

In my previous position, I worked very closely with a lot of the HTA staff. So it has met what I thought would be discussed and working forward. And there are some issues that I think that we need to work on as a board that the community is asking us to. So I look forward to working on those areas like destination management and give back to the community.

In your questionnaire or response that you gave to the Committee, we talked a lot about balance and you talked a lot about cultural tourism, ecotourism, conservation, supporting local businesses, sustained visitor management. So how do you feel about the current allocation that HTA put forth for the dollars that they are given?

The dollars that they have right now?

So how do you feel about that allocation?

I feel strongly are going to put it to good use. I mean, and there could always be additional funds, especially for tourism, destination management. I do believe the destination management, as put forth for this fiscal year, they do have the funds.

Do you feel, are you satisfied with the allocations on how it's being distributed?

I am satisfied, yes.

Okay. Because you talked a lot about balance. So let me just go over this with you. So branding and marketing, do you know how much percentage that is that is given out of the budget?

Out of the entire state budget?

No. Out of the HTA budget.

I do not.

Okay. Do you know how much is for regenerative tourism development?

I don't have those percentages on the top of my mind. I have dollar amounts.

But you're aware of what's going on?

Yes.

Yes. Okay. Because I look at it, it doesn't look balanced to me. So I'm just concerned whether or not, you know, when you sit on the board. And you know, and I've read your questionnaires, and it seems like it came straight out of AI. It doesn't give me a sense of what you yourself are where and what you're contributing and what you can contribute.

Because you look at, you look at that allocation and 62% is branding and marketing, destination stewardship community is 12%, regenerative tourism 6%. You know, I mean, it doesn't seem balanced at all. So it sounds good, what you're saying, but I don't know in practice. And, you know, it's not just you.

I mean, over the years, board members come sit before us and tell us all these great things. And they sit there, and a lot of times I read the minutes and it just seems like a lot of just, you know, everybody go along to get along, and I don't see a lot of changes. And, you know, and I always, when you come back for reconfirmation is when I look at your record and I go over things because it's very difficult your first time out as to what it is that you're going to accomplish and what you hope to accomplish.

And from my perspective right now, being from Maui, I do see the benefit of having a lot of money go towards branding programs. We're not doing well in the county right now. Our community, a lot of people have lost their jobs and many had 2, 3 jobs and now they have one. And so from my other perspective, my job, I see more and more people that are needing food assistance.

So the branding is very important because we do need to be top of mind, especially with our other sun and sand destinations that are doing really good at, you know, getting their government to subsidize them. So. But I do, as a board member, do want to bring that balance. I've only had the chance in three meetings, so I'm trying to be respectful and watch how things are being done. And I will fight for the little guy, I promise you.

So what do you think is HTA's weaknesses or what do you think there are areas in which can improve?

There are many. I believe that there are a lot of staff positions that are vacant right now, and they are struggling to do a lot of the work that they need to do. We also are, we are needing the finalization of our CEO of the organization. I think that that would help us with strong leadership and leading us into the future. The other things that we need to do is we need to listen to the community to a greater extent. There is a lot going on, especially with the forthcoming federal cutbacks. It's going to even hurt our community more, and so there need to be greater dialogues.

Do you think that it was a good move to have HTA take so long into getting a CEO, getting a leader?

Personally, yes. But now that I'm on the board, I do see that the struggles that they've had with some, if I can say, bureaucratic maneuverings.

Okay, thank you.

Senator Wakai.

Thank you for stepping forward, Lisa. I've long admired your leadership on Maui. Long before HTA talked about kuleana and malama campaigns, you were there when Maui was going through some very anti-tourism sentiment. Right. There's moratoriums, no more hotel rooms. There were grassroots organizations that were gurgling that were pretty anti-tourism. Tell us about how that has prepared you to now take on a larger responsibility for the state as we go down the road of malama and kuleana.

Yeah, thank you for the question. I believe we have, it is our kuleana to do a better job in educating the benefits of the industry and the visitor industry as a whole. When we had a lot of that anti-tourism sentiment, it was our fault. We didn't do a good enough job in telling our story.

And the jobs that we support, the benefits that we support, and the farmers, the ranchers, the fishermen, all of that that trickles down the small businesses. So we had to step up greater efforts. It's not perfect. We still need to do a better job in that area.

So as a follow up to Senator Kim's questions, which we all want to see, someone who knows understands the balance between economic development as well as preservation of our culture and environment. Your past experiences actually provide you kind of a unique perspective because you're able to find that balance in Maui. And I don't hear any anti-tourism sentiments today based on, you know, this is pre-wildfire time period. But you actually helped Maui create that balance between economic development and the preservation of our culture environment, correct?

Yes. Yes. I worked very strongly with the community. We brought a lot of our community activists and community stakeholders to the table. And then I continued that when I worked with Mayor Victorino. We had a robust group that met and discussed areas that were hot spots, and that's kind of that beginning of the list that ended up in the destination management plans.

Thank you. So, Lisa, first of all, thank you for wanting to serve. I know you have your hands full. You know, along the lines of what Senator Wakai has said. I know you have worked under many mayors in Maui. Your extension out to Lanai and Molokai during the charity walk time and the rice donations have been, you know, super instrumental.

You know, as we were very challenged to have meetings after the fire in Lahaina. As we brought the businesses together, after we had tended to the residents and their needs, I said, you know, at that point, you know, you had stuck out. You know, you had helped assist Director Tokioka as part of the Commission and so forth. How do you feel that your, you know, the resources that you've brought to the table have helped you in now serving in this position as an HTA board member?

So so far I've been able to kind of give boots on the ground perspective when we've been discussing some of the branding efforts. You know, recently I brought to light that a lot of our Canadians are our number one visitor for the island of Maui. And that's because a lot of them have invested in timeshares. And because of the goings on at the federal level, they're encouraged not to travel to the United States. And that is going to have a very detrimental effect to us.

I've also brought to light that fact that many of our farmers and ranchers and fishermen are still suffering from the downturn in some of our restaurants, our smaller businesses that were buying, you know, produce and protein from them. And we are trying to step in as the food bank and assist with that. But we always want to make sure that the little guy has a voice in the room, and I hope I can bring that as a board member to the table.

So can you also share with me during the time as we were dealing with the fire and the recovery of many upcountry in my district as well as in Lahaina. You know, at that time, I think we were at a crossroads. Can you, can you tell me, you received an award. It was a prestigious award you received during that time. Can you tell us what that award was?

Sure, sure. Try not to get emotional. So the night of the fires, I actually was on the phone quite a bit with Kalani here, and we stood up immediately. I knew from my crisis management background and working in the Emergency Management Office that we needed to evacuate those residents. I wasn't sure where the fire was going to terminate, if at all. And a lot of our visitors were trying to get into cars and go the backside of the island, Kahakuloa way. And that was very incredibly dangerous at night.

So we stood up an evacuation right away with our transportation partners and the emergency management team and also in working with the state government and Jimmy's office, DBEDT, and we were able to evacuate 12,000 visitors out of Kaanapali and the Napili and the Kahana area within three days.

We got the majority of them out to the airport. Didn't make the airport staff very happy because they all had, they had an onslaught. But they had no power, they had no Internet, they had no access to hot food. And we also needed to start working on getting those rooms ready for housing our kamaʻāina.

Can you name that award that you received?

Yeah, it was USA Today. Oh, my gosh. Now... 50. No, that's the other one. Woman of the Year. Sorry. In 2024. Yes.

Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none. Thank you.

Thank you.

Can we move on to GM 615 submitting for consideration and confirmation to the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Tourism Authority gubernatorial nominee Christian West for term to expire 6/30/2028. First testifier up, Daniel Nahoopii, Hawaii Tourism Authority Chair.

Chair, Vice Chair, Members. Kalani Kalani Kaanaana with HTA, on behalf of Daniel in support, thank you.

Next up, Director Tokioka on behalf of DBEDT. Thank you. Next up, EPW, Kalani Warner.

Thank you. Next up, Christian Fern, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly in support. In person. Maybe not.

Mufi Hannemann, President and CEO, Hawaii Tourism, Hawaii Lodging Tourism Association in support. Kade Watanabe testifying on Unite Care Local 5 in support. Randy Perreira, AFL-CIO in support. Randy Perreira, HGA in support.

Operating Engineer Local 3 in support. Troy Benavidez testifying IBEW Local 1357 in support. Bronson Silva for Democratic Party of Hawaii in support. Damien Kim testifying for IBEW 1186 in support.

Is there anybody else in this room wishing to testify on behalf of the individual? Seeing none. Chris, if you'd like to join us in front end and, and say a few words and give us some background. Mahalo.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, and Members of the Committee. My name is Christian West and I've been nominated for the Hawaii Tourism Authority and I'm here today to answer questions or any concerns that folks may have.

Thank you. Anybody, any questions from the Committee or?

Well, I'll go ahead and start. To be fair. You heard my question earlier about balance and I think you also said that in your questionnaire. So. And you've been serving since July.

Since July.

Okay. So you had a little bit longer time than previous. Lisa. So what do you think about the balance and how the budget is being parceled out?

You know, I have, I come with a, I think a unique perspective on the board where you know, born and raised local boy, the only representative labor on the table with many managers and native Hawaiian. I was very surprised to see the diversity of the budget and how it was split up. I was happy to see that.

I was happy to see the diversity of where the money went or is going. I still have some questions myself on the effectiveness of where some of the budget is directed and I hope to be able to be that unique voice that maybe can, can help to steer and use our funds properly.

As a tax paying member of the State of Hawaii as well, it's something that I think we all have, we all have skin in the game on it, you know, and I know that there's been a lot of questions there and I know that you go right into the hot seat.

But as a, in my day job I'm in the hot seat a lot, so, so it's something that I believe I can handle and I'd be willing to ask the tough questions.

So Christian, HTA has been through ups and downs. We have been through dedicated funding for a long time and that funding has gone away. There's been all kinds of changes going on and what direction do you think HTA is going in right now? Do you think they're going in the right direction?

Do you think there needs a lot of changes?

Well, as a person before me had stated that, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I identify some bureaucracy there that maybe we have to cut through. But I guess that's kind of something that is evident everywhere we go. For the most part, you know, we're without a full-time or an actual. We have a President now that is in acting.

And I'm a firm believer in leadership. And with a lack of leadership, it's hard for us to move forward. I think there's some housekeeping that needs to be taken care of quickly. And that being done, I feel positive that we can begin to make a difference. I don't know if that answers your question.

When do you think you're going to have this leader?

You know, tomorrow would be nice, but I believe that there's a pig now that's, that's tasked with finding the right person for the job. To be honest, I'm not quite. I couldn't give you an exact date, you know, but I know that we have a Committee actively looking to fill the position.

Are we looking at a month, two months, a year? I mean, because we already been. How long have we been without a? 23-24. Okay, so we're going on two, almost two years. Yeah. And with no. No date in mind or do you have an idea like within six months or, I mean, just a pig. What is. I mean, a pig.

I don't disagree. Yeah.

Lipstick.

I forgot what it stood for, so otherwise I would have used it correctly, but yeah, you know, I wish I could give you a definite answer on that. I know that.

But you're on the board. Shouldn't you have a good idea? I mean, if you don't who else would have it?

I would hope so. I would hope so. But I'm a pretty honest guy, so I'd be lying to you if I gave you a date. But I know that...

As a Board Member, what are you doing to get this moving and get you folks? Maybe that's a better question.

I think asking a lot of questions and probably to be honest, maybe not as much as I should be, but.

How do you hold them accountable? See, that's the problem. We ask a lot of questions. Just like in this room, we ask a lot of questions, but how do we hold accountability? And then what is, what, what happens if they're not accountable? I mean, there's no recourse. Right. There's no, I mean, we don't.

In government, we hardly fire anybody. I mean, it's very difficult. And I'm not saying. I know...

Unless you're federal.

...I'm not saying we should be firing anybody, but I'm just saying it is difficult to have accountability. We can ask the questions. But then what happens if there is, you know, they go, oh, I don't know. Oh, I forgot. Oh, sorry. Right. And then you go, okay. And then happens again.

I mean, being here as long as I have, I've heard all the excuses and I see it happening over and over and over again. So it just frustrates me 100%.

I agree wholeheartedly. Again, in my day job, I get questioned all the time. I'm being held responsible, responsible to 16,000 Members and their families, you know, and it's a heavy burden to bear. And having answers to questions is very important to ease people's minds and to, you know, if you don't.

If you don't control the narrative with the truth, it gets filled in, as we've seen it gets filled in, right, and I believe that I could do more to push in there. But again, finding my way and my place on the board has been part of my so to speak, mission. And definitely I'm looking to.

I want to have someone that we can follow, someone that we trust. And sometimes that takes a little time, but shouldn't take two years. Again, I'd be just guessing if I gave you a date, but I understand the concern, and I share the same concern.

One last thing I'm going to say to you and to Lisa is that it's one thing to ask the question, another thing to get the answer, but to know whether or not that answer is, in fact, true. Right.

I mean, a lot of times, if you don't know what's going on and you're given an answer and you accept it and then find out later that that was false, and then that's what makes our job hard, my job hard.

I kind of almost have to know the answer before I ask a question to know whether or not they're telling me the truth. They're being accountable, and we're going to be getting what we want.

So a lot of times, and I've told this when I was a Chair of Tourism to HTA members, is it's not just attending a meeting and voting. A lot of times you have to research some of the things that are on there to find out what's really happening.

And and then whether or not staff is in fact giving you the correct information or whether or not they're in fact doing what they're supposed to be doing. And how do you know that? Because you're not monitoring them day to day. Right. And therein lies the problem. So it does require time.

And so I hope that you guys understand what that time commitment is when you send out the void, because, you know, we know you don't get paid, and we appreciate you willing to serve, but if you do serve, then we hope that you will put in that kind of time and effort and in order to hold the entities and the staff accountable for what's being done.

Absolutely. You know, I share with our staff that we have currently, and, you know, I tell them what's unique about where we are, who we work for is, you hear it all the time when people say, you know, I go to work for the man or I go to work to make someone else a lot of money.

But every day I wake up, I go to work for the people, like literally local working families here in Hawaii. And that's a, that's a heavy burden. But I love my job. I love to fight for our families, to keep them here in Hawaii.

And so holding people accountable, some that I probably may be sitting on the board with is something that that's my job every day. So I don't have a problem, you know, asking the tough questions. Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you. Senator Wakai.

Congratulations on your nomination, Chris. And I want to follow up on that last response, because I loved what you said about you go to work every day to look out for local families. When you look at tourism Today, it's a $21 billion industry. Most of that is fueled by hotels.

We have the highest ADR rate in the nation in Hawaii. And we know that all of the hotel chains in Hawaii are owned by mainland or outside investment firms.

So as we grow tourism, how do we make sure that it's not just investment firms and Wall Street tycoons that are benefiting from tourism, but to the people you just said, how are local people really going to take a bigger share of the benefits of the growth in tourism?

Thank you for that question. Amazing question. And, you know, I may be a little biased, but I think we have organizations, unions, as we see here today, that our job is to fight for local working families every day and to argue what their fair share is. Every day we battle.

We battle with these corporations to let them know that the difficulties that it is being a local person, you know, with the rising costs in Hawaii and finding that, so to speak, sweet spot on the back where our local people can continue to stay and work here in Hawaii, the place that we were born and raised.

And in my opinion, and I have a strong opinion about it, or if I want to raise my children here, I should be able to have the opportunities to do that.

So when we have companies that try to be neutral about it, but when we have companies that are making their money here in Hawaii, but don't necessarily reside here, I think that's where organizations like ours come into play to make sure that it's not just a place where people come in and exploit our resources and our local people to make money and not to leave their share back here with our workers. I try to stay kind of neutral on it. But I'm pretty passionate when it comes to fighting for our local families. It's my job.

It's all of our jobs. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions? So I just wanted to say thank you, Chris, for stepping up. I know you have a busy life, a busy schedule. I wanted to, you know, highlight some of the things that you have done.

When we had the fires in Lahaina, I know that it was you guys that took the lead on really standing behind your workers. You know, we had a meeting in Lahaina, which, you know, I brought up earlier with Lisa.

And at that time, the understanding was that it was more about the jobs of the people and about the tourism industry and whether or not they would have jobs.

And I wanted to commend your team because the fact that they wanted to come there and literally protest this meeting for businesses and response to them, where we're trying to figure out whether or not these businesses will be operating based on what happened with the fires.

And you guys kind of took the initiative to wait to see where these businesses were and then the conversation was had.

But I want to come in, you guys and your team, which is why they have had the support of- I believe, a very good union as yourselves, with IOW that you guys stood up for them in every other situation, you demonstrate leadership. And I was hoping to follow up on the question that Senator Kim had earlier.

If we took the narrative and you were to do the narrative and we were to find that leader, sometimes we don't have to look so far around us, but we can just look in the mirror. And I'll leave it at that. And thank you for your time.

Next up, let's head on to GM 600, submitting for consideration and confirmation to the Stadium Authority nominee Eric Fujimoto for term to expire June 30, 2028. First up, Chris Sadayasu, Interim Stadium Manager.

Thank you. Chair. Vice Chair, standing here, with written testimony, in support.

Thank you. Next up, Director Tokioka, back of debate.

Standing here, with written testimony, in support.

Thank you. Next up, Ryan Andrews in support. And anybody else wishing to testify on the appointee? Seeing none. Eric, please join us in the front. And thank you for being here. Is this like, what, your fourth time walking in this building or just a second?

Probably my fourth time period walking into the building.

Well, thank you. I wanted to serve.

Hi. Thanks for inviting me here.

So, if you just give us a little background about yourself. You know, we have your resume and the questions that we sent to you. So just some introduction and quick background.

Local boy, born and raised. Graduated from Pearl City High School, went to college on the mainland, came right back and started working in small business since 1993. And this is my 30th year in kind of owning my own company. And I live in Aiea. I raised my two boys in Aiea.

Right outside of my picture window is Aloha Stadium. And so, you can get reminded of the mission per se each and every day.

Thank you. Okay, members, questions for the appointee. Senator Wakai.

Congratulations on your nomination.

Thank you.

In your questionnaire response, you talk about how you appreciate, and you know, you support the PPP approach being taken for the stadium. But we know that PPP approach right now, it's having some struggles and that Stanford Carr and his team have missed deadlines.

How confident are you that this PPP program will all come together and then come June 30th, we're going to have a signed project agreement.

So, I can't speak for Stanford, but as far as the people on the Committee, I'm not in the room at the time that these negotiations are occurring, but Brennan is the individual that that is, and I would have confidence that he's the right person to handle on the procurement side of where we're at.

If you want to speak on the positives of where we are today, I think that we have a local developer that understands our culture. He's proven that he delivers on houses that can be affordable to people here in Hawaii.

And I would hope that he can be responsible enough to see what's in front of him and the opportunities that have been given despite some of the costs that he's been public about.

I would argue that from my perspective, I would try to build a collaboration that I've done in the past to try to find a win-win as best we can.

So, considering he's missed many milestones other than just hope, is there anything that you're going to put in front of him that these are specific deadlines that have to be met, and if not, then we're going to part ways?

So I hear the concern and what we did as action is - I joked about the fact that this might be my second or third time here, but last week we had a meeting with Stanford and the Governor and of which there was people in the room trying to find that common ground so that his team and the state's team could come to an agreement.

That discussion had occurred, and I could hope that he follows through on that.

Thank you. Senator Kim.

Question. Going back to the basics; so, Eric, why do you want to serve on the authority? And did you initiate it or did somebody nominate you or how did that come about?

2020 COVID situation; at that time, it was Governor Ige who had considered the nomination.

I guess you could just go back to the fact that when I first had the Senate nomination, you know, I had spoken about the fact that there was a lot of memories created that I view Aloha Stadium as a place that created a lot of happy places, happy smiles, happy memories that we will stand on.

I think it's bigger than the University of Hawaii. I think it's a part of our community. I think that when our community does well, you know, we feel good. The University of Hawaii contributes to that seven days out of the year.

And I think things like state football games and band presentations and graduations, it's a place that neighbor island students and families, you know, aspire to come to. I just kind of can remember how I grew up pretty fond of the stadium, and I would hope to that, you know, we can offer that to the next generation.

So is this your first appointment or is this a reappointment?

Reappointment.

Oh, it's a reappointment. So, you're first appointed when? I'm sorry, it didn't say.

2020.

2020. Okay, so in - when was the stadium declared unfit and closed down?

So, in 2020, it was like in my second board meeting; I sat in there and it was like, oh, okay.

Okay, so you're on the board then do you think it was appropriate that they closed it down as they did and didn't give any notice, didn't give the university notice? None of us was aware. I mean, I know it was a health and safety issue. And for years we were saying that.

And I remember we proposed to Lingo because we flew up and went to the Denver Bronco stadium and proposed that we put together a stadium back then, which she turned down.

And year after year, each Governor turned down the monies we put in for repair and maintenance to the point where we were at the point of health and safety. But I would think that the stadium authority would have had a lot more notice or aware that this would be coming down the line so people could prepare. What was your thoughts back then?

As the first-time appointee in the second meeting? I didn't have much thoughts back then. I will be accountable for that decision. However, going forward, as far as looking at what's in front of us, I think that we do have to keep that words like communication and accountability much better to the stakeholders and around us.

You say much better; what do you mean by much better?

Well, I think when you're looking at how that was communicated to the University back in 2020, that's how I would reference that statement that that in hindsight could have been communicated better.

Okay, so since that time and now and you've been on the board all these years, how have you effectuated that? What have you contributed? What have you accomplished?

I think that what might have gone under reported is I've been in front of four different governors to get us to this point today. I've tried to educate some of the strengths that are going on at the stadium right now. So, you know, through COVID, they've become cash flow positive. You know, they maintain operating cash flow.

As far as the opportunity that Mesa provides is that I think the conversation should be framed equally not just on the stadium, but also to that of the amount of housing that's going to be proposed, you know, there are 70 plus acres of property that can be used for housing.

And at this point, it's up to the developer to decide. However, you know, estimates are, you know, saying that they'll be building housing that is workforce affordable to those to be built in an opportunity zone, which provides some opportunity.

I am just having a hard time understanding. I mean, it's proposed, we haven't seen even the ground dirt being rolled over. So, I'm not sure that it was any kind of accomplishment. And right now, I mean, we have no idea if the stadium is going to get built.

We have no idea that we're going to have all these housing. So again, what do you think we've accomplished by being on the board?

Because it seems like we're still in in limbo and chaos as far as whether or not we're going to have a stadium, and not just stadium I mean, you guys, you are the Stadium Authority.

You talk a lot about housing and yes, it's a master plan, but your main mission is for us to have a stadium and for you to manage and maintain a stadium. So, with that being said, you know your role as a member on the authority, how have you moved forward on this or contributed?

All we have is since you've been there is a shutdown of the stadium and plan in the sky, plan of all this grandeur, but with nothing.

That's true that I think that the opportunity that presents itself for the current board is one of transformation. That will go from stadium that's inoperable to 99 acres that could generate general excise tax jobs. I think it would be high paying jobs if they can follow a vision of the fact that the property has an opportunity zone impact.

Okay, but Eric, can it? The developer is projecting that the project's going to cost $100 to $250 million more than what money has been given by the legislature. And everything he's proposed at this point, gambling and so forth, has not gone forth.

So, I mean in our minds, in my mind, I don't see that we're any closer to that. And yet as a Stadium Authority member, you seem to be thinking we're going to all of this and yet we have nothing. I mean look at it now. We have $200, you have $350 million to build a stadium.

Is that going to build us a stadium?

350 million is a pretty good start towards that stadium. And I think that, you know, what I don't understand, that I need to understand further is Stanford's position currently as he's negotiating with the project team to understand how to come up with that shortfall.

What would you do if you had to come up? I mean he's tried everything. Gambling, he wants to get more money from the ledge, come up empty. I mean he's not going to use his own money on that. And so, getting other people on the mainland to donate, I mean there's not a whole lot of more options.

And so, I'm worried about the board and realistically where we're going, I mean it's been how many years already and it doesn't look like it's going to come to fruition in the near future.

I don't have here with an honest discussion in the sense where I haven't been face to face with Stanford to really speak to a specifics.

Okay, but you've been on the board for a while, right? You said 2019, right? 2019, and you've never met with them? I mean, you didn't ask. I mean, as board members, you still call them in because you want to know as well.

I know you got Brennan, but I mean, you're each confirmed individually, you have your own individual responsibilities to us when you say you're going to do this job. So, I'm shocked that he's not.

Well, I think that the. In the chronology, right, you know, so in January or February, Stanford is named as the AHDP. And you know, he's presented at that time before the board of which the conversations from then till now was through the - I guess they call it like a project oversight, you know, trying to get this to the RFP. I'm not in the room in those communications, so, you know, in terms of that specifics, I think that that would be probably best for Brennan or the stadium manager.

Okay, thank you.

Sorry that I don't have those answers.

I think as a board member you have to exert yourself more. I'm sorry.

Noted.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. So let me just make this really quick. Is there an opportunity for the stadium authority realizing that enterprise zone designation exists to bring in investment?

Do you look at that as an opportunity to the additional funding of the 350 million that it would not like, say, lure, but encourage outside investment monies to complete the stadium and the surrounding entertainment area?

Yes, yes, the enterprise zone and opportunity zone provides that.

Can you tell me why? In 30 seconds, can you tell me what would be that lure?

I think that private money will seek tax free.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for wanting to serve. Okay, you can go back. Thank you. I gotta get you this. Thank you. Okay, next up, submitting for consideration and confirmation of the stadium authority gubernator nominee Andrew Pereira. First up, Chris Sadayasu on behalf of Stadium Authority. Stadium.

Thank you. We stand on our written testimony in support.

Thank you. Next up, James Tokioka, director of DBEDT. Thank you. Mufi Hannemann, Hawaii Tourism Authority, in support. Anna Tuya Sopo, in support. Operating Engineers Local 3, Mitchell Tinans, Tainans. Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters in support. Kurt Caldwell in support. Randy, Ryan Andrews in support. Christy Lonnie in support. And Michael Yasua in support. Tracy Tanaki, Dr. Horton president in support.

Stephanie Sakamoto in support. Connie Mitchell in support. Paul, individual support. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Seeing none. Andrew, can you please just introduce yourself, and we will start with your line of questioning. Thank you for wanting to serve.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, members. Andrew Pereira. I've had the pleasure of working with majority of you in professional capacity in my former role as a reporter. Just got to know Senator DeCoite recently had a very good meeting with her. Wasn't born and raised in Hawaii, but been here since 1991. Came here with 500 dollars in my pocket.

So I know the struggle of working families. It's real. And through a lot of hard work and stick-to-itiveness, I was able to build a life for myself. Had two children born and raised in Hawaii. They've graduated college. Unfortunately, they're on the continent right now.

But my daughter is finishing up her residency in psychiatry, and she wants to come back and lessen that burden for our health care providers. So that's a good thing. I see the new Aloha Stadium entertainment district as vital to this community.

I see it as the heart of this community, has a long storied history, and we need a place to gather and to celebrate life together. And I think my main responsibility as a board member is the fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayer and making sure that those tax dollars are stretched as much as possible. Thank you.

Thank you. Questions? Senator Kim?

Yeah. I've been wanting to do this for a long time. You've been asking us the questions for a long time. Now we get to ask you the questions.

Thank you, Senator.

To be serious. So you've heard the conversation and the questions, and you know, I know I ask these pointed questions, but I think it's important because it is our taxpayers' dollars. And so you've been serving on the board at all or.

Since June 28th was the notice of my appointment. So I've been close to 10 board meetings.

Okay, so you've been serving, so I can ask some questions. So, how do you think this whole process has occurred, and where are we now? And then the same question that I ask about how close are we to coming to fruition?

Well, unfortunately, Senator, we took one step forward and then we took two steps back with the change in design plans. At first, it was a design, build, operate, finance, maintain, and now we switched to a deep bomb model. So design, build, operate, maintain.

So there was a transition period between the two plans, and in my view, the stadium should have been built during COVID. We have SDSU that built Snapdragon Stadium during COVID, so that's an opportunity cost. I think it's, it's on all of us that we lost that opportunity.

Construction costs have increased 30 percent since the beginning of COVID, and so we would have had a lot more stadium for the 350 million should we have done it during COVID when it should have been done, and in my opinion as far as where we've gotten so far, we've selected a preferred offer, AHDP and that's from three.

Attention has been reported in this building.

Please cease operations and leave the building utilizing the nearest exit or fire exit stairway. Do not use elevators. Repeat, do not use elevators.

Recess.

Okay, I know we have a 2:45 cutoff time, so I guess it's just, you know, instead of going over where we're at, we have to leave.

Okay, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna summarize. I just hope, Andrew, that as a board member, you're going to hold not just authority itself accountable, but also staff accountable for where we're going. And you know there's a lot of, a lot of issues that is still out there, and hope you just don't rely on your fearless leader.

But as a board member, I think you also have that responsibility.

Absolutely, Senator, thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else have any questions? Senator Wakai.

Congratulations, Andrew.

Thank you, Senator.

Likewise.

Also enjoyed working with you when you joined the PR and messaging during some very tough times. Right. I mean, we're in a situation we're in partially because government had all this wishy washy back and forth we had to endure.

I've enjoyed working with you in our previous life in TV.

Previous governor who didn't care about doing stadium PPP, wanted to do a design build. So that caused much of the delays, and why we're kind of up on, on a deadline today. But now, when you were nominated and then moved over to PRP, I was very excited about that relationship.

But can you tell me of all of the construction unions, all of whom are going to benefit from the construction of state of and ancillary development, why the carpenters' union is pretty mediocre and lukewarm about their support for the stadium.

I think senator, the carpenters' union, which PRP represents in addition to 250 general contractors, is focusing its attention on what's in front of it. So there's some legislation that is supporting this legislative session, and that's taken up a lot of energy.

But as far as, you know, actually supporting the stadium, I think that support is there through our union members that you know, are big fans of, UH, obviously in sports.

But as far as maybe being more vocal, I think they're waiting for the June 30 deadline and whether there's an actual master agreement signed with AHDP and the state and then I think once that, you know, comes to fruition, then you'll see the support in earnest and very vociferous support.

But at that point, we don't need your support. Right? You're going to get the jobs once the project agreement. We need your support now when we're in this kind of back-and-forth. But you're kind of absent from amongst the trades.

I mean, the masons are out there, the iron workers are out there, IBEWs out there, but the carpenters are nowhere to be found in all of the legislation that is being bandied about for support for the stadium.

I'll definitely take your concerns to the head of the carpenters' union, senator, and it's a discussion that I look forward to having. And I think you're correct that maybe our support could be a little bit stronger on that respect.

And obviously any support that we can give to the project is warranted because we're talking about 12,000 construction jobs that could be created during the construction of Nasset and the surrounding 78 acres of development. So your point's well taken.

And as was mentioned to Eric earlier, I mean, Stanford Carr has missed multiple deadlines, and we have less than four months for him to figure out like, how he's going to finance this thing. What exactly the specs are for the stadium as well as the ancillary development.

As a board member, what have you done to hold Stanford accountable?

I've had conversations with Stanford, and I think we will get a stadium. The type of stadium we get, I think, depends on what you think Chair Morioka has spoken about, an aspirational stadium as opposed to a stadium that's in front of us with the funding that's available. So I think we will get a stadium.

What that stadium looks like I think depends on funding mechanisms that may come to fruition or not. But with the 350 million that's there, and I think there's been discussions of 100 million in private capital coming in for a total of 450 million.

Not quite a Snapdragon level stadium, but something that could be a starter stadium that we could add to in future years. Something that could be proud of for that amount of money. But again, I wish we had done this during COVID. The construction costs would have been a lot less, but that ship has sailed.

However, I do think that we are going to get a stadium. But whether it's the aspirational stadium or the stadium that's before us now with the funding that's available remains to be seen.

Thank you. Seeing no other further questions, I want to move right into decision making. First up, HB 934 HD1 relating to Hawaii Broadband and Digital Equity Office transfers the Hawaii Broadband and Digital Equity Office from Department of Business, Economic Development Tourism to the Office of Enterprise Technology Services in the Department of Accounting and General Services.

It establishes the Broadband and Digital Equity Special Fund and appropriates funds effective 71 3000 HD1. Amendments to improve and strengthen the bill incorporate the recommended changes made by the Lieutenant Governor testimony. Also remove the references to telework in the bill. Add the language for the digital navigator positions that are contained in SP 1061 SD1 Members, any discussion? Senator Fukunaga?

You know, I think the amendments requested by Waianae Coast Comprehensive, you know, deserve consideration because in many respects for rural communities, you know, a lot of what they depend on with perhaps not, you know, the same as cable or fiber types of services are really important in the community.

So, I hope you'll consider the amendments being proposed by Waianae Coast Comprehensive.

So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to add that in the committee report. I do know that after careful consideration of that funding, that that funding was never meant for infrastructure funding, but it was meant for more of the outreach on the navigator and to help those communities in those rural areas.

There is a separate pot of funding as the Lieutenant Governor alluded to on infrastructure under NTIA.

No, this is not necessarily for infrastructure, but in terms of services currently being delivered.

So, within that, those services that can be delivered will be delivered. But I will incorporate into the committee report for the next chair to consider. Thank you, Senator Fukunaga. Any other discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote. Chair goes aye.

[Roll Call]. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next up, HB97 HD2 relating to travel insurance estate establishes a new regulatory framework for the sale of travel insurance in the state including licensing and registration requirements for limited lines travel insurance producers. Effective 10/1/3000; HD2 amendments to incorporate amendments made by DCCA for consistency and licensing requirements by striking the clause on page 22, lines 19 to 21.

Any discussion? Senator Kim?

Chair, I don't believe that we need this measure at this time. I mean we -the response from DCCA was just, you know, she couldn't definitively just say why we needed this just because it's being asked. I don't think there's a problem just because other states have adopted it.

I don't think they made a good enough case so I cannot support this measure.

Okay. Any other discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote Chair goes aye.

[Roll Call]. Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next up, HB 448 relating to technology enablement appropriate funds to the White Technology Development Corporation to assist small business including those related to tourism sector with technology enablement. Effective 7/1/3000; HC1 amendments. The bill already has appropriation blanked out and a defective date so it can pass this bill out as is. Any discussion? Seeing none.

Vice Chair for the vote. Chair goes aye.

[Roll Call]. Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next up, HB 455 relating to small business loan establishes the Hawaii Startup Business Loan program and established the Hawaii Startup Business Loan Program Special Fund. Requires DEBET submit an annual report to the legislature regarding the program appropriate funds. Effective 7/1/3000; amendments is to pass this bill with an SD1 by making any necessary technical amendments.

Also incorporate the concerns raised by BNF and the Attorney General in the Committee report. Any discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote, Chair goes aye.

[Roll Call]. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next up, HB 1405 relating to permits establishes specific deadlines within facilitated application process to obtain a permit and requires. You know, there has been much questions on this on this measure. I believe this measure needs a lot of work.

And you know, I think this during the interim is a time when this measure should identify what permits under what program or construction and so forth. So, with that I am going to defer this bill indefinitely. Thank you. Next up, GM 511 submitting for consideration and confirmation to the board of directors of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Gubernator nominee Lisa Paulson for a term to expire 6/30/2027. Recommendation is to advise and consent any discussion. Discussion, go ahead Senator Awa.

Thank you. For the nominee, thank you for your service thus far. You come in many accolades. You, you know, clearly can do the job. About a month ago we sat in this room, a bill came up, SB 1571. In it was something that I was very concerned with.

It was a mindset, and it was a term, and one person brought up a term that was removed. They removed the Hawaiian sense of place, turned it to a Hawaii sense of place. That person was Kumuhina Wong. That's who I'd like to see as the nominee here. And with that, I'll be voting no.

But it is nothing against what you're able to do.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote. Chair goes aye.

[Roll Call]. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next up, GM 615. Submitting for consideration and confirmation to the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Gubernator nominee Christian west for term takes bar 6/30/2028. Recommendation to advise and consent any discussion?

Discussion.

Senator Awa.

Fast one. And this is lighter. I got 2.5 concerns on this one. One, Governor appointed you. I'll look past that. Your union's a little bit left. I'll look past that. But Kamehameha School is wrestling to Iolani. I don't get that one. Chris and I are friends. I just have to put that out there. Thank you.

Not a problem. Senator Awa. Recommendation advising consent. Vice Chair for the vote. Chair goes aye.

[Roll Call]. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next up, GM 600. Submitting for consideration confirmations of Stadium Authority Gubernator nominee Eric Fujimoto for term to expire 6/30/2020. Recommendation to advise and consent. Any consider any discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote. Chair rules aye.

[Roll Call]. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next up, GM 616. Submitting for consideration and confirmation to the Stadium Authority Gubernator nominee Andrew Per for a term to expire 6/30/2028. Recommendation is to advise and consent. Any discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote. Chair goes aye.

[Roll Call]. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. And with that being said, thank you very much for being here. Thank you for volunteering to serve on these boards. And I wish you all the best of luck. And please continue to stand up for what you guys believe is right. And even if it means standing alone. So, thank you.

And with that, this hearing is adjourned. Mahalo.