Senate Standing Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts

Good afternoon. We're convening the Committee on Transportation and Culture in the Arts on our 3pm agenda here in State Capitol Conference Room 225. We have a number of GMs and a resolution up on the agenda today, so we'll ask everyone to make sure your testimony is submitted.

And we'll ask you to keep your comments concise and limit folks to one minute to make sure we have time to get through all the testifiers today. That being said, up first is House Concurrent Resolution 94, requesting the Governor to issue a proclamation designating Hawaii as a Purple Heart state on August 7, 2025.

And testifying first on HCR 94, we have Department of Hawaii Veterans of Foreign Wars in support and a number of individuals, but no one actually signed up to testify in person. So that being said, is there anyone else wishing to testify on HCR 94? And seeing none, and seeing as there's no one to ask questions, why don't we move on to our GMs for the day. So we have eight nominees up this afternoon for various positions. We'll begin with GM 506.

And as we do, what I'll do is, for the folks here in the room with us, I'll go through the testimony and testifiers on each nominee. And then if the nominee is present, we'll give them an opportunity to say a few words and then go into any questions the committee might have thereafter.

So, beginning with GM 506, submitting for consideration confirmation to the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission gubernatorial nominee Leinaʻala Lopez for a term to expire 6-30-2028. We have testimony in support from the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission and three individuals, but no one signed up to testify.

Is there anyone wishing to testify on GM 506? And seeing none. And forgive me, I haven't memorized what everybody looks like here, so... Oh, there she is online. Good afternoon. If you'd like to share a few words on your part, you're welcome to.

Oh, okay. Aloha, Honorable Senator Lee and Members of the Committee. My name is Leinaʻala Lopez. I'm born and raised here on Molokai. I served for the last two years under the late Heli Silva's commission, and now I'm just re-upping my term. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. Okay, are there any questions for the nominee? Seeing none. Thank you very much. We'll move on to the next measure. GM 507 submitting for consideration and confirmation to the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission. Gubernatorial nominee Pamela Alkinsel for a term to expire 6/30/2028. And on GM 507, we have testimony from the.

From Amy Hammond with the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission. Good afternoon.

And thank you so much, Senator Lee, and honorary Committee Members as well. I was not able to get my video started to support Lena Ala Lopez, but I do support her as well. As all the other candidates that I have submitted for and will stand on my testimony for those in order to save time. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. We also have. Oh, that's everyone who had signed up to testify on GM 507. Is there anyone else wishing to testify? Seeing none. Is the nominee here with us today? Okay, thanks. Okay, are there any questions for any testifiers? Seeing none. Let's move on to the next measure.

GM 508, submitting for consideration and confirmation to the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission gubernatorial nominee Beverly Lee for a term to expire 6-30-2028. And testifying on GM 508 online was Amy Hammond with the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission, who noticed who had notified us that she was going to be standing on her testimony. But if she'd like to say anything, please chime in. Otherwise, also signed up online is the Association for Hawaiian Civic Clubs.

Not present on Zoom, Chair.

Thank you. And we have a few other testifiers who submitted written testimony. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on GM 508? Seeing none. Are there any questions for the testifiers? If not, to join us and... Yeah. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, everyone. Hi. My name is Beverly Lee, and I am up for the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission. And just so that you know, I've been involved with them since 2010. And I am the pa'u chair, the existing pa'u chair since 2010. So I've been taking care of horses and people. So. But I am very honored. That is my love. I was a pa'u rider, so my heart is there for them. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Are there any questions for the nominee? Oh, no worries. We just have to go through the process here. That said, let's move on to GM 556 submitting for consideration and confirmation to the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission Gubernatorial nominee Luis Alina for a term to expire 6/30/2028.

And testifying first, we have testimony support from the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission from Amy Hammond online. And that's everyone who had signed up to testify. We have testimony support from three individuals. Is there anyone else who would like to testify on GM 556? Seeing none. Is Luis Alina online?

Not present online, chair.

Thank you. I know, I'll just note for the audience several of the nominees were not able to make it so afternoon. Although I know they've spoken with some of our committee. Okay, let's move on to the next measure. GM 654, submitting for consideration and confirmation to the Medical Advisory Board gubernatorial nominee Judy Kovell for a term to expire 6-30-2029.

And we have testimony from the Department of Transportation in support. That's all the testimony we have on GM 654. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on GM 654? Seeing none. I don't believe the nominee is with us this afternoon. So let's move on to the next measure.

GM 740, submitting for consideration and confirmation the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts gubernatorial nominee Janet Sato for a term to expire 6-30-2028. And we have testimony first from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

Good afternoon, Chair Lee and Members of the Committee. Karen Ewald, Executive Director for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. And like Amy, I'll go ahead and let you guys know we're standing our testimony in strong support of the three nominees.

Thank you. That's everyone who had signed up to testify. We have additional testimony submitted from three individuals and a board member of the State Foundation. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on GM 740? Seeing none. Any questions of the testifiers? Seeing none. Let me call up the nominee. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Thank you for hearing my, I guess, request to continue in a second, a full term. I recently completed a partial term filling in for someone that vacated their position. And I feel like I learned a lot over the past year and a half or two years, and I hopefully get a chance to continue to support arts and education and culture. That's it.

Thank you. Are there any questions for the nominee? If not just a couple questions, if you would come back up. No. Thank you. You've been involved and serving for a little bit of time here. Based on that or really any other experience prior, is there anything else you'd hope to accomplish in terms of direction for the commission and ultimately State Foundation?

I guess as a retired art educator after 42 years, I would hate to see anything that's, you know, kind of been put into motion that has, in my opinion, benefited, you know, people of Hawaii in terms of culture and arts, I would hate for any of that to get lost or, you know, to become eliminated in any way, shape, or form. I do want to also expand.

Current educators, some of them did not know too much about what's available, you know, through the State Foundation Culture and the Arts, in terms of artists in the schools or, you know, sitting on the grants review panel. That was really eye opening for me, and so I did really get to learn more in detail about the breadth of what the foundation does.

And it's a lot. It's pretty amazing. So I would just like to continue in that realm and just get to learn more. And understand more about legislative processes because that was a big learning curve the past two years. I worked here in the capitol when I was going to college, but really know what goes on. So. Yes.

Thanks. And then, you know, right now there's obviously a lot of on the federal level efforts that will likely diminish the amount of funds through a number of channels that are going out to various states, communities, and other things. Do you have thoughts about where what could be done or where we might go to try and preserve what's there, assuming federal funds are diminished?

Well, I think the biggest hope for moving ahead in these shaky times really is keeping the conversations open and that everybody that's coming together can hopefully put their best foot forward so that you can hear. I've learned to listen to other people in the course of my career.

And I think that that's maybe sometimes a hard thing to do because we all have our own, you know, point of view and perspective. And sometimes it's difficult to open up and listen to the opposing or the, you know, broader spectrum. So I hope that that's because we need all the support.

Everybody needs all the support right now in terms of what's happening. So, you know, after teaching for at a public school for 42 years, I understand budgeting and how shorthanded everything becomes. And the arts do get sometimes the lowest priority. So I'm very clear about that. But I think that we can work towards a solution where everybody can be satisfied.

If there are new ways to generate revenue for arts, is this something you're open to diving into?

Oh, definitely. Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, there's always something that someone maybe didn't consider first. You know, like it's the first time for something, and you can't just shut the doors, I think, down. But you have to be reasonable, I think, or we have... Everybody has to be reasonable, you know, to keep, to keep the, to keep the momentum going. So definitely.

Well, thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Any further questions? Thank you so much. Seeing None. Thank you. Let's move on to the next measure. GM742 submitting for consideration and confirmation of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Gubernatorial nominee Marsha Roberts Deutsch. Hope I'm pronouncing that right.

Marcia.

Oh, Marcia, I'm sorry. That's not the part that I was worried about pronouncing wrong. For term to expire 6/30/2029. And on GM742, we have testimony from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Thank you. And we also have testimony from three individuals and two organizations in support.

Is there anyone else wishing to testify on GM742 this afternoon? Seeing none. Are there any questions for the testifiers? Seeing...

Yes. Yes. Yes. I have a question.

For the nominee. Oh, for the nominee. Okay, one Sec. We'll give her a chance to come up. Well, with that, why don't we bring the nominee forward? And good afternoon.

As I noted in my letter of interest, I really feel I've had sort of a lifelong connection to the arts in Hawaii, having grown up here, but also in three contexts that have really defined my adult life as an artist, as an educator in the University system, and also as an arts writer and critic for local and national publications.

So I guess my pulse and the pulse of arts in Hawaii, I think, are sort of synchronous in that sense. I also feel that I've been an advocate for the arts in various ways. Maybe I've lived that advocacy in terms of choosing a life that's art filled and art fulfilled.

I've also had a long term connection with the State Foundation. I was very proud when our state was the first to enact 1% for art law. And I know that has a complicated and problematic history, but it's still there as law, and I'm very proud of that.

I've served in various capacities for the State Foundation as a grants review person on their committees. I've also served on the art acquisitions committees, making selections for the Art in Public Places collection. Frequent visitor to Hi Sam. I guess now I forget the new name. I'm sorry.

I think of it as White Contemporary, but I know it's Capital Modern. Excuse me. It's just I think one of those really good examples of the way in which public support for the arts can be enacted, especially in a place where we don't have a lot of other infrastructure to support the arts.

Well, thank you very much.

Yes, thank you.

Senator DeCorte?

Hi, Marcia. Congratulations on your nomination. And I hope I'm not taking the Chair's question, but I am interested to hear your response on revenue generated by the foundation with regards to the federal cuts. I'm curious to pick your brain about that.

Right. I've been watching what's going on in Washington and elsewhere very closely because I sort of had a premonition that the NEA was probably going to be somewhere on that list of institutions and agencies to feel the impact of new policy, let's put it that way.

I think, and this really goes not just for the State Foundation, but I think for other arts organizations in the islands, that we tend to keep public and private somewhat separate.

And I think that we need to really rethink that because it may be that now both community support and private philanthropy is where we should be looking more closely for funding. I think also we've tended to maybe think local, except, say, for the NEA and other sort of governmental, national agencies.

But I think there are other foundations, other sources of funding for the arts, both for individual artists as well as institutions, that we should be looking at more closely.

Yeah. And thank you for mentioning that.

If you do go through the full confirmation and you get confirmed, I do want to encourage you to bring that discussion to the board to really sit down and just kind of map out how the foundation can be generating its revenue, because I think once things start to get a little tighter as far as funds, then I'm...

I'm afraid that the public will start blaming the state on why they're not getting funding from taxpayers, where if we can kind of like envision seeing a potential lack of revenue, that the foundation just kind of, you know, be proactive in bringing those discussions to the tables, mapping out a plan.

And then this way there would be that security on the public purview side to know that the foundation is active in generating its revenue, which, every Department right now is having to do, everybody's gotta start figuring out how they're gonna bring in its own revenue.

So, yeah, I just wanted to leave you with that, but thank you, Chair. Thank you, Marcia.

May I say one other thing?

And that is something I mentioned to Senator Elefante yesterday, and that is, I think, despite the constrictions that the State foundation may feel and certainly has felt over the years, I think they do an excellent job with the funding that they are allocated, in terms of purchase of artwork, school programming, cultural activities.

So I think the money they receive is well used.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Marcia.

Further questions?

Just following up on that, you know, right now, obviously, with the federal uncertainty going forward related to fiscal situation, on the state side, too, a lot of projects that traditionally would have been subject to the 1% law, which may not be in the future, simply because a lot of the larger projects that the state's contemplating are being done through potentially public private partnerships or other kinds of financial arrangements which don't trigger, or may not trigger that 1% to begin with.

So assuming that the state's moving in that direction, generally, for a number of projects which are out there, even if, you know, all else stays the same, there could be slow decline in revenue for arts generally.

But I think based on some of the comments you just made, would you be open to, and I think with your experience in some of the other states and places where you've been, would you be open to serving on a...

I don't know if it would be like a sub working group or some sort of conversation about what other places are doing and trying to seek out other options, looking for ways to either supplant that, or find new streams of revenue, or whatever it might be.

Absolutely. Yeah. I think we can learn a lot from our 49 sisters and brothers. And I think there are a lot of good programs. Granted that there may be questions of scaling up or scaling down that may make it complicated.

Certainly in terms of population base, we are small compared to many other states who do have robust, I think, public arts programs. But I think there's probably something to be found in making that inquiry, in sort of pursuing the path that you suggest. In other words, not to discard any option before we examine it thoroughly.

All right, well, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions? Seeing none. Thank you. Let's move on to the last GM on our agenda. GM 743, submitting for consideration and confirmation to the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts gubernatorial nominee Randall Francisco for a term to expire 6-30-2029. And testifying first is the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Thank you. We also have the County of Kauai Office of Economic Development on Zoom. Good afternoon.

Aloha. Aloha, Chair Lee And Committee Members. Thanks for hearing me out. I'm actually the current Kauai commissioner, so I'm headed out. And we have an amazing person that we're kind of recommending here. He has, he's been a great friend to Kauai. You have my testimony. He has a huge diverse background and all everything you can imagine.

And he works in and among one of our big arts communities, which is the Hawaii Economic Alliance or Hanapepe. I'm sorry, Hanapepe Economic Alliance. So he knows and lives and breathes art all the time in all kinds of ways. He's also a huge supporter of performance art, which, of course is my thing. So I just want to reiterate Kauai's support for this nominee, and thank you for considering him. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. We also have testimony from Mayor... Oh, I'm sorry. Mayor of Kauai, Derek Kawakami in support. Waimea High School and InkSpot Printing Corp. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on GM 743? See none. Are there any questions for the testifiers? All right. Seeing none. I believe our nominees online. Good afternoon, Mr. Francisco.

Aloha. Aloha. Can you hear me?

Yes. Is there anything you'd like to share? Please proceed.

All right. Well, I think the first thing is it's really a full circle moment because my career, which started at UH Hilo, was overseeing, in addition to the international education programs, culture and arts. And so it almost is like bringing me back home to where I got started. And over the years, I've not only gained a lot of experience, but insight.

And one of the things I did want to stress was about advocacy for the arts. Because having worked not only in public education, but also in business and government, I've felt a stronger need the past two decades to really not forget that arts is sometimes seen as one that is right there that might be on the chopping block as opposed to other areas in our humanity.

But I've always felt, especially someone who's Filipino and from the neighbor islands, that we really need to make arts accessible and available because we have so many different communities, whether the Japanese, Okinawan, and Filipino, to have their spot and space.

And I have to echo what the two other nominees had said because I really feel they are really spot on with the possibility of funds being cut at the federal level. I've always taken the position that we should always understand that government funds will not always be there, and we have to place ourselves in a position so that we're able to leverage what resources we have.

And during the recessions the past two decades, one of the lessons I learned at the Chamber was sometimes you don't have money to donate or sponsor, but you can also volunteer and count on that because I think that's one of our biggest assets. Sometimes asking for that kind of support. At the same time, I try to measure it with, hey, let's not ask artists to do stuff for free because this is their livelihood.

And yeah, maybe they could give a discount or whatever. But, you know, in speaking up for the arts community, I don't really feel it's important that we not forget they need to have a voice. And that's one of the things I always try to stress, especially when I'm looking at hiring different kinds of artists for performances or the fine arts.

All right, thank you very much, Mr. Francisco. Are there any questions for the nominee? I think you covered it. Thank you very much. So with that, why don't we go back to the top of the agenda for decision making on our 3pm agenda.

Up first is HCR 94 requesting the Governor to issue a proclamation designating Hawaii as a Purple heart state on August 7, 2025. Recommendation is to pass as. Is there any questions or comments? Seeing none. Acting vice chair.

Chair's recommendations to pass HDR 94 unamended. [roll call]. Mr. Chair, your recommendations adopted.

Thank you.

Okay, what we're gonna do is for the next few governor's messages for the nominees for these various boards and commissions. Appreciate the nominees taking the time to join us this afternoon. We'd like to do is take these all in one vote. So we'll be voting on GM506, GM507, GM508, GM556, GM654, GM740, GM742, and GM743.

The recommendation is going to be to advise and consent to the various nominees for their respective positions. So is there any discussion on any of those? All right, seeing none. Vice chair for the vote.

Chair recommendations to advise and consent on said measures. Noting the presence of four Members on the Committee on Transportation, Culture and Arts. Any no votes? Any votes or reservations? hearing None. Mr. Chair your recommendations adopted. Thank you very much, everyone.

Congratulations to our nominees. And with that, thank you. It we are adjourned.