Senate Standing Committee on Economic Development and Tourism

Hello and welcome to the hearing with the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tourism. Today is Tuesday, February 32026. This is our 1:00pm agenda and we are in Conference Room 2 to 9. This hearing is being streamed live on YouTube. An unlikely event that we must abruptly end this hearing due to technical difficulties.

The Committee will reconvene on Thursday, February 52026 at 1:01pm in conference from 2 to 9. We have a one minute time limit for all tester fires as we have various agendas to get through this afternoon. This agenda has seven bills.

Before we start with the bills, I'd like to have the Committee Members introduce themselves and what district they represent, starting with Senator Fukunaga.

Carol Fukunaga representing Manoa Makiki, Punchbowl, Papukulea and University.

Thank you. Gladwell Kai. I listen to Lindy Coit do whatever she asked me to do and when I'm not doing that, I'm representing people. From Kalihitu, Waipahu and no, he doesn't.

But I represent Senate District 7. We work very well together. Senate District 7 entails Molokai, upcountry, Somali and Lana Moloki. So let's start. First Bill of Senate Bill 2031 relating to consumer protection. First testifier DCCA.

Good afternoon. Chair, Vice Chair, Member of the Committee. I'm Raji Tolentino, Enforcement attorney with the Office of Consumer Protection. OCP supports this Bill. In December 2024, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final trade rule to combat hidden fees and misrepresentations about pricing and life event ticketing and short term lodging industries.

The federal rule, finalized after intense debate, took effect on May 122025. This rule applies on a nationwide basis and empowers state attorneys generals to enforce it. We support the enactment of a state law that also protects consumers equally or greater than the federal rule.

We have attached a proposed draft with our recommended changes to more closely align this Bill with the text of the federal rule. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Ivan Louis Kwan on behalf of hotel clients, Thank you. Next up, Marvin Dang, testifying for Hawaii Financial Services association with comments. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none there's any questions, dcca, please. Thank you.

So how many complaints do you receive annually relating to life decade events or short term lodging?

I'm sorry, I don't have that information but I can get back to you on it.

Can you get back to me on that? And then how do you resolve those complaints? Okay, thank you. Thank you. Next up is Senate Bill 2129 relating to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. First up for Db, Jennifer Chun, Aloha.

Aloha chair, Vice Chair and Committee. I am Jennifer Chun, Acting Administrator for re. And we submit.

Thank you. Next up, Victor Lim on behalf of Hawaii Restaurant Association.

Good afternoon. Chair Nakoi, Senator Wakai and Senator Fukunaka. Good afternoon. I represent Hawaii Restaurant association with over 4,000 plus eating and drinking places here in Hawaii.

We strongly support this Bill because for the longest of time, you know, people in this room, this building community talk about minimum wage and really do not talk about the true impact of what it does. People think that by just going to increasing the wages that everything else stays static.

But it affects employment hours, work for employees, inflation, price of goods and so forth. And one of the greatest example was just recently two years ago when California passes the AB 1228 that bring fast food workers to $20 minimum wage. I thought that was a good study as to exactly what transpired.

Because what happened was that nobody wins employee lose hours and dollars. The businesses lose because they have less customers coming in and the consumers also lose because they had to pay a higher price for it. And I do have copies of this study that was done that I want to pass it on to you. Chair.

You can share with that. It's a good study of exactly what transpired the good, the bad and the ugly of when you do a fairly hefty minimum wage. Go from $15 to $820 minimum wage, the ramifications that it creates. So hopefully anything that I can do to support, please let me know. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Victor. Next up, Dave Erdman. On behalf of retail merchants.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Dave Erdman, Interim President and CEO of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii. Retail Merchants of Hawaii supports SB 2129. May I offer a couple of points?

Minimum wage policy affects retailers deeply, especially small and mid sized businesses operating on thin margins while facing rising labor costs, rent, utilities and insurance. SB 2129 calls for data driven study which is critical to understand the real impacts of recent wage increases, including business closures, reduced hours or job losses, not assumptions.

And thirdly, learning from other states matters. Comparing outcomes elsewhere will help Hawaii strike the right balance between supporting workers and keeping local businesses viable. We believe good data leads to better policy. For these reasons, Retail Merchants of Hawaii respectively supports SB 2129. Mahalo. Thank you.

Next up, Chamber of Commerce Sherman north support late testimony color knee Regulatory Research center with comments, activities and association the Traction of Hawaiian Support Maui Chamber of Commerce and support Kapole Chamber O Kapolei Chamber of Commerce. Are you here? And we stand in our written testimony and support. Thank you.

Anybody else in the room wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none on Members in questions. Yeah, we're gonna jump.

You know, this Bill contemplates looking at employers and businesses that are shut down, but could your research encompass the gig economy as well?

I mean, I'm getting emails from people who drive Uber, you know, you know, all of the GrubHub and all of those, and they claim that they're getting less than minimum wage as they deliver people or food or what have you.

Do you think you can expand your research to look at the gig economy as well and how much they're paying those people who work in that world?

Thank you for the question, Senator. It is possible, but it might cost more than we had originally estimated because we don't have a list of those people who are like, for example, in the gig economy. I mean, I'm hoping that we.

We could get a list from maybe another agency or another source, but we know that there are lists of businesses that we could purchase lists for. But I would have to do more research to find out if there's a list of people who are doing that. So I'm not saying no.

I'm just saying we don't know what the data possibilities are. Okay, thanks.

David. Director. So I don't know if it would be you, but do you guys currently collect and analyze the reasons for business closures in the state Diva?

No, but the Department of Labor does.

Okay.

Okay. I don't know if it's every single one, but I know small businesses of, you know, a certain amount of employees, maybe 20 or more, they have to submit a report to the labor office. It doesn't come to dbed, but I. Know that, that that information goes to. The Department of Labor.

Thank you. Sorry, but I think. I don't know if anybody outside wanted to testify, but if you guys are going once, going twice. Okay, next. Next up, Senate 2259, relating to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. First up, dbed Director tokioka, Dennis.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Member Dennis Lynn with dbed. DBED offers comments on this. First of all, this initiative or the measure, the services required in the measure should align with current ongoing dementia initiatives. And, you know, this dementia training is different from workforce development training, so it's really not an economic development function.

And DBA does not have the GERONTOLOGICAL clinical or dementia training expertise to get carry out some of the aspects of the Bill. And we don't have the relationship with elderly care providers. However, we could be supportive in outreach, getting the word out to businesses and promotion to certified businesses.

So we feel that this measure should belong to the more appropriate agency. Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, Caroline Cadot Durreal, Executive Office on Aging. I'm sorry, did I pronounce your name correctly? Watch out. I might change it again.

It's okay. I've heard many versions of it. Thank you, Chair. Vice Chair, Member of the Committee. My name is Carolyn Cuttierow. I'm the Director for the Executive Office on Aging. And we support the intent of this Bill and appreciate the intent to make businesses dementia friendly. We're willing to work with DBED to support curriculum.

We can vet the curriculum and provide a speaker's bureau. We also have branding available that they can use either on their websites on certificates that will show that these businesses are dementia friendly. All we would ask of DBED is to help with the dissemination of the information.

We'll do the legwork behind the scenes to get that information to DVET so they can get it out to the various businesses. And we do have one edit. We'd like to make alternative language saying on page two, lines 13 through 16 that at least 85% of employees shall complete a one hour training. We think that's more sustainable.

Instead of saying all employees. Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, Kobe Chalk. On behalf of Alzheimer's association not present on zoom Chair.

He's here.

Sorry.

He's here.

Aloha, Senator. Decoy Senator. Okay. Senator Fukunaga, thank you for the opportunity to testify. Thank you for hearing this Bill. As you know, Alzheimer's and dementia is a growing issue for our state.

And as more and more people become affected with this disease and live with it, it's critical that our businesses are trained to be able to take care of them and support them however they can and just generally bringing more awareness to this issue. So we have some suggested amendments that I submitted.

We also note that it would be better if we change Dementia Friendly in the Bill to Dementia Business Champion. That's because as EOA mentioned, they already have the logo. So we'll be able to use more things that are already existing rather than creating brand new things.

And we also support EOA's amendment to change it to 85% of the personnel trained and they defer to our intern Hayden on further details on this Bill. Thank you, Senator.

Thank you. Next up, Hayden Cobb.

Good afternoon, Members of the Committee. My name is Hayden Cobb, and I stand before or I sit before you, representing both my parents who passed away and all those who have been impacted by dementia. This disease took my dad's life after he battled with it for five long years.

And not long after that, my mom passed away from the burdens of being a caregiver. She experienced a lack of mistreatment and lack of compassion and support from her workplace and all the businesses my family came across that weren't aware of what dementia was and how harmful this disease is.

Which is exactly why I'm in full support of SB2259, which is a Bill that focuses on implementing dementia training within the business community. This Bill has the ability to create a safer environment for families impacted by dementia or while removing a negative stigma for consumers in the business community.

There's anything I learned from my parents and their death, it's that we leave this world with the impact that we make on people's lives. So I ask each and every single one of you, what kind of impact do you want to make on the people and lives of those who need it?

On behalf of my lost loved ones and those impacted by dementia, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to testify in support of this Bill.

Thank you, Hayden. Anybody else wishing to testify on this measure?

I would just say showing balance and support.

Thank you. Then sorry, I had a late Tani Salazar individual in support, but not. Not in person. Members, any questions? Senator Mokai, Kobe.

So last week I did your one. Hour training with my staff and I hired someone with early signs of dementia in my office. And can you tell? I mean, there's, there's things that are. Being written about in the political environment these days about people's ability to function and be capable of representing the public's interest in this building.

Just because you have early signs of dementia, does that mean that you're automatically not able to function? Think logically and contemplate policy in the state?

Dementia is one of those things where you don't necessarily have someone who doesn't have dementia. The very next day you have dementia. It's a whole scale. So you start off with no symptoms at all, but you have signs of amyloid plaques and tautangles in your brain, and over time that accumulates and slowly deteriorates your brain.

But the change in cognition doesn't just change overnight, it's over a long period of time. And oftentimes people can function fairly well through the mild cognitive impairment stage, through mild dementia, being able to do activities of daily life and other things that they might do during their normal day.

So just because an individual has deposited, perhaps early signs of dementia doesn't mean that we as a society should be writing them off, that somehow you're no longer, you know, positive and contributory to society. Correct?

Yeah. People who are living with the disease are the same people that they were before they got the disease. And it's important that we acknowledge that this isn't something that there should be a stigma around.

It should be something that we just accept as, you know, it's a disease and we're going to manage it the best that we can and treat the person as we would, regardless of what stage they're in. But especially in the early stage, we shouldn't discount their abilities just because of diagnosis.

In fact, the earlier you get diagnosed, the better the long term outcome is. So we encourage as the Alzheimer's association, early detection, just for that purpose. Just because you have the diagnosis doesn't mean that anything changes because of that diagnosis.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Can you stay with that? So help us with considering what is a dementia friendly business in your mind.

So dementia friendly business in our mind is a business that understands what Alzheimer's is and kind of understands how to communicate effectively with someone living with the disease. Too often you have individuals who just have no idea what Alzheimer's is.

So you have someone who is in the community, whether it be their family or the person themselves, who might be in an early stage and they can function. But once in a while they have these small lapses in judgment.

They might have small lapses in their communication where there's just a break where they freeze and kind of forget what's happening next. But otherwise they're still functioning well. So you want to make sure these businesses can understand that, you know, these are potentially parts of the disease.

But we can still work with them and they can still do a lot, even though maybe they can't communicate for one split second of their day.

So do you know of any organizations right now that provide some kind of training?

Yes. So we can provide the training. The Alzheimer's association and Caroline and the Executive Office on Aging pulled together this group called the HOYA Dementia Initiative. That's a coalition of people from across the state and organization to can also provide the training. The Alzheimer's association can provide the training virtually.

It can be in person and we can also tailor the training depending on the business. So if it's a very service oriented business, we can focus on communication and how to best handle situations like that.

But also, even if it's like the banking sector, long term planning in terms of planning for medical costs and that sort of thing can be an important component of what one does in their line of work. So, so we can really tailor this to whatever is necessary for a specific business.

And is there a cost to that?

No.

So EOA would just put us on the list that would be prescribed and then from there, however they end up working it out, would just call us or the business might call us themself and say we want the training, we'd go in and we can even provide a lot of the here's the badge and here's this and that too.

So we're happy to facilitate where we can.

Thank you. Okay. Moving on to Senate Bill 2577, relating to sports tourism. First up, DBEDT, Jennifer Chun. Thank you. Next up, HTA, Caroline Anderson. Thank you. Next up, Dave Erdman on behalf of Retail Merchants of Hawaii.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair. My name is Dave Erdman, Interim President and CEO of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii. We support SB 2577. Two points. Sports tourism is growing, growing part of the global visitor market. Travelers come to Hawaii to participate in or watch sporting events.

And when they do, they stay at our hotels, dine in our restaurants, and in particular to retail merchants, they shop at our local retailers. Sports tourism is also changing. Destinations are competing harder, schedules are tighter, and travelers are more purpose driven in why they choose where to go.

This bill helps Hawaii better understand which sports events attract visitors, how long they will stay, and how they will benefit our local economy. That information is critical for retailers, accommodations, and tourism partners as we plan for the future. For these reasons, Retail Merchants of Hawaii supports SB 2577. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Dave. Next up, Johnny May L. Perry, in support. and not here. Anybody else wishing to testify on this measure, whether in the room or outside? One, two, three. Nobody. Any questions, Members? Yeah. Seeing, seeing none. Moving on to Senate Bill 2578, relating to film, to the film industry. First up, Director Tokioka. Economic Business, Economic development.

Sorry, Director.

Anything you say.

Keep it short.

Now, whatever you say, all three of you, whatever.

Go ahead. Sorry.

Oh, I thought you had a question.

No, no.

Yeah, we certainly support the Bill.

You know, the film office, CID, is here to testify on it and we, you know, it's been something that the industry has wanted for a long time and you know, we want to make sure that we can do everything we possibly can to move the industry forward because we know it's been struggling and this is one of the measures that are going to be helpful.

So, thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Georja Skinner, CID Creative Industries.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Georgia Skinner, Creative Industries. Thank you for the introduction of this measure. It is critically important and I know how many years we have been trying to achieve this particular idea of having a commission because the industry has evolved.

Our workers need a solid structure for us to be careful carrying forward both the infrastructure, as well as the other components. It's a very thoughtful measure and I wanted to just point out a couple things that we did in our testimony.

One is that with a grants program housed within the commission and the commission administering that grant program, that's very important and it acts as a complement to the existing film tax credit.

We do want to work with the Committee and Members on the language because currently, it does say, on page 8—7 and 8—items 1 through 4, that the Administration of the existing credit will also be part of the delegation of authority for this body, as well as handling the new special fund MP3. When you mix all those together, there are very different aspects.

So, we want to work with the Committee on language to ensure that we're meeting the needs of the Legislature, as well as our industry. Thank you very much, and I'm here for questions.

Thank you. Next up, Willa Constantino, on behalf of Honolulu Film Office, with comments. Marisha Palma Elmore, in person with comments.

Good afternoon, Chair and Committee and Vice Chair. I'm Marisha Palma Elmore. I'm the Executive Director of SAG-AFTRA, that's the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Thank you so very much for the opportunity to offer comments on this.

I'm going to go really fast because I know that there are a lot of people who can speak to this more succinctly. We offer comments because we do support the idea of a film commission. We are too economically important, logistically complex, and our industry is really globally far reaching.

Also, the industry expertise and the stability that would provide is paramount. So, thank you for that. However, we respectfully defer to DBEDT, the Director, and CID, with regards to the specific administrative and financial details and the restructuring. And so, those are our comments. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next up, Irish Barbea on Zoom, on behalf of Hawaii Film Alliance.

Barber. We stand—we submitted comments. We see the need for this sort of oversight and we're not against it. Our comments were to add more labor union representatives and film commissioners. But we are looking forward to more discussion.

Mahalo so much, Senator DeCoite, for allowing us to testify and for scheduling all these bills in support of our industry. Mahalo.

Thank you. Next up, Tom Yamachika, on behalf of Tax Foundation of Hawaii, on Zoom.

Thank you, Chair, Committee Members. Tom Yamachika for Tax Foundation of Hawaii. The, the concern that we have is the part of the Bill that allows the Commission to raise or lower the present 17 million dollar per production cap or wave it all together.

We think that this body, rather than the Commission itself, should set some standards for determining when this type of action can take place. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next up, Gennaro—Gennaro Holly Gualdarama, teams—on behalf of Hawaii Teams Local 996, in support. Brian Keolana as an individual in support. Chris Seals individual support. On Zoom, Cooky Usagida, testifying for Hawaii VTuber Expo, in support. Do we have him on Zoom?

Okay, so sorry. Let me, let me disable my, my video cuz—can I screen share by the way, my stuff that I want to show you?

No.

Okay. So, hi everybody....I am a VTuber affiliated with Hawaii VTuber Expo. I have some concerns in regards to this upcoming bill, which is, S—sorry about this one.

It is kind of nervous. I am really nervous about this. But this Bill, which is in place for SB, for this bill is a bill which I'm very concerned about. While I am in support of this Bill, there's one thing that I want the Bill to be addressing, and that is the content creator and VTuber industry.

So, as you guys know, content creators and VTubers are the backbone of Hawaii's economy. And many content creators and VTubers are working two to three jobs just to survive, and they are not making enough money to be able to live in the Hawaiian Islands.

So, my stake that I would like the state of Hawaii to do is address the concerns that Hawaii's creators are facing. So, I asked with the testimony to look into amending SB 275, 278, to look into supporting Hawaii's content creator industry. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Brandon Lee testifying for West Ford Street Films, in support. Anybody else wishing to testify on this measure? Anybody from outside wishing to test—oh, Dave, hang on. Okay, thank you.

30 seconds.

One minute.

Treat me like an equal, you guys. Just because I'm Chinese American. No, I'm just kidding. Aloha, Angela Melody Young. Actually, I do represent Ms. Chinatown and we do get to costar in a show that funds the Hawaii Convention Center.

So, you know, very supportive of the film industry and the musicians and the actors and the production crews across the state. So, this is very exciting to have this priority heard. And so, what this Bill, as I'm reading it, what I think it does is that it separates film from the rest of the creative industries.

So, music is separate from film. I think it can be good or bad. I'm not too familiar with Hawaii's industry. So, when offices work together as one, it can help each other. Right?

And a lot of times, musicians who also do acting and fashion, they work with the same production crews and teams in the industry behind the scenes. Yeah. So, very happy about this film.

Thank you, Angela.

And then Asher wants to testify. He wants to debate.

Next person to testify, Senate Bill 2578, if you come inside. Hi, Aloha.

Hi, Aloha. I'm Christina Zazueta. I work in the film industry as well. I didn't make the deadline to submit online my testimony, so I just wanted to come here and say I support this Bill. Thank you, guys.

Thank you. Anybody else from outside wishing to testify on this measure? Seeing none. Members, any questions? Senator Fevella.

Yeah.

Oh, wait, hang on. Sorry.

Oh.

Aloha. Kaipu Seels from...I just want to say I support this bill, and I work in the film industry. This May makes 11 years for me. It just, you know, it brings a lot of stability to a lot of families here in Hawaii work. And so, I just, I support the bill and thank you for your time.

Anybody else from outside wanting to testify? Anybody else outside? Anybody outside like to testify? Good. Thank you. Senator Fevella.

Jimmy, event. Would you entertain having I know you guys are the Governor and then you're going to be getting the, I guess the Executive Director and the Director position.

I guess a lot of them have said the same thing, but I would really want to have a friendly amendment to add the industries of musicians, Iasi Sag and the Teamsters. We talked about that previously and when we was trying to do this commission.

And the only reason for that is that they're going to be not only boots on the ground, but they're the industry that's pretty much holding our film industry together. So, would you guys, I mean, I don't know if we can do a friendly amendment with you, would you be supportive of that?

Well, that's the prerogative of this Committee and the Chair. As far as DBEDT is concerned and CID, I would say that it depends on the details. You know, sometimes you can put too many people on a commission and that might not be good, but it depends on what the commission, the friendly amendment that you're talking about includes.

And if it's just including what you said, we would still have to figure out the details of all of that because as you heard in some of the testimony earlier, some of the people that testified wanted more people from the current unions.

Now, when you add in all these other organizations, as you mentioned, that might just grow the commission to a size that would be hard to get quorum, hard to manage, and hard for them to work cohesively is what I would say. So, it's in the details, Senator, and you know, it's this Committee and the, that would be open to or not to the friendly amendment.

Yeah. The only reason why I said is because we've been trying, like how Senator DeCoite said was trying to make this film commission for a while now and had all kinds of different versions. But one of the consistent versions of this commission was to have the labors part of it.

We can't have everybody else that you guys decide, the Governor, or you on the other side. But it would be really important to have the four unions or the labor forces that I had brought up. That's just something that I wanted to see if you are supportive. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none. Oh, actually, I got a quick question. How many employees can be transferred to the commission, and how many would you need to hire?

The testimony says two, but I don't have that answer right off the top of my head. I'll check it.

Thank you for the friendly amendment also and also for the question. Currently, there are four staff in the Hawaii Film Office and potentially, if, as written, the film tax credit and research credit programs go to the commission, then that would add another two.

Then, you also have allotted in here the other latitude for Executive Director appointment and the rest. So, right now, I think it's just the details on how we divide up. It does leave a pretty big deficit in creative industries.

But we are working on our FY 2027-'30 strategic plan with our leadership in the Department and that'll be able to be shared and I think that'll help you to see how we would encompass all of the other creative content development, music, other aspects of the arts, fashion, in particular, and design and music, so. Currently, those are the permanent positions.

What you estimate the cost?

Oh, boy. But can I get back to you on that? I don't want to estimate wrong. But it'll be quick.

So, but I thought your question was addition, not current, right?

Yeah.

With this commission and that was the two for sure. And then, you know, we would have to figure out what else would be needed and if a friendly amendment is entertained and introduced and passed, then you know, that would all change the number of employees we have to have.

And I, you know, I wanted to apologize for when I first came up here. I got thrown off.

You kind of look on...

I normally don't do that, but I was reading an article in...and I couldn't believe it. So, I'm sorry I got thrown off in the beginning of this agenda item. It just threw me off. I'm sorry.

No worries. I recommend you don't listen to them. They bunch of dummies. Anyway, can I follow up with Georja? So, in the film office right now, four people. Who, who's the four people right now?

Currently the manager?

What is the names?

Oh, the names. Donny Dawson is the Manager, currently. The Film Industry Development Specialist. Sandy Ichihara Abe. The Film Industry Development Specialist 4, which is currently in recruitment—we're waiting for a list from DHRD. And the fourth is Lorene Roberts, who manages the Hawaii Film Studio.

And the reason why I bring this up is because, again, and Jimmy knows this too, I have an issue with having anybody goes from the Hawaii Film Office to the Commission because that was part of the problem that we had in the past.

I'm not going to go into names and details, but that was the previous past that we had problems with no oversight using the film office as a trip all over the place, which Jimmy and Dane kind of toned that thing down to a zero. But at the time, these people was abusing their privileges on a taxpayer's dime.

So, having them on the Commission, it will not be any clearer of what we're going to be trying to accomplish if we're going to clean up the film industry when they're part of the reason why the film industry in an up opening dialogue with the laborers, with the labor unions and letting them know how much men they need, how much people they need on the force, what they need, and even when NCIS was leaving and all of that, nobody had dialogue.

Even when chief of war was going to leave, nobody went dialogue with the legislators here to see if we could keep these or make amendments to the tax credit, at the time, to keep these productions here.

So, again, you know, just on my behalf, I just hope, you know, Jimmy and Georja that we're not going to recruit the people that was the problem within the Film Office into the Commission because I'm pretty sure a lot of the people in the industry here not going to be too happy and be confident in that thing going forward.

So, I appreciate you guys' help in make it a little bit more clear for us. Appreciate it. Thank you, Georja.

Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate it.

You want to elab—yeah, because I think it's appointed position.

Yes. Yeah, it's up whoever you guys is. And I don't think, I don't think any of those concerns that the Senator had is part of that list. So, I just wanted to put that in for the record.

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

And we wouldn't let that happen either.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next UP, San Bill 2580 relating to motion picture, digital media and film production income tax credit. I will let you know that There has been 454 testimonies in support, zero opposition, Five way comments. So I can, I can be honest with you. I never read them all but my staff did.

I think we've been through this many times. I appreciate all the testimony and strong support. But for those of you who want to stand on your testimony can stand on your testimony. But I will go down the list of the departments. Director Tokioka, I know you're in support, but you are not just telling you today.

Mr. Moni, you want to say a few words?

Yes, thank you, Chair. Vice chair and Members in strong support. And we really appreciate the Committee chair and the Committee taking this up again. We know that last year was very emotional and I think that rightfully so. There's so many people in this industry that are well paid. They look forward to the productions coming.

This year we have more productions, I would say a lot more than we had over the past two years.

And I just wanted to add to the written testimony that it's the first time that since I've been around that the Governor, the Senate and the House have made statements on opening day and in the opening of the Legislature in support of an increase for, for this, for the increases that you're talking about in this Bill.

And that's very, very appreciated from all of the different entities. Thank you very much for this opportunity.

Chair thank you, Director. Next up on Zoom, Constantino from Honolulu Film Office, not President on Zoom Chair Tom Yamachiko on behalf of Tax foundation on Zoom with comments.

Thank you, Chair. Members of the Committee, Tom Yamachika from. Tax foundation will stand in our comments. And be available for questions.

Thank you. Next up, Maricia Palmer Elmore on behalf of Sag Aftra Oil person.

Hello again. Real quick. Just wanted to point out that increasingly our Members more and more are working on these high budget streaming content. And so I know that that was a part of it and I'm grateful for the 454 pieces of testimony. I think that'll speak louder than anything I can ever say.

But I did want to point to the fact that this is really where a lot of our Members are working now. And thank you so much for considering this. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Irish barber on Zoom in support.

Yes. Aloha. Irish barber with the Hawaii Film Alliance. Again, just so grateful to be able to testify on this measure. We stand on our written testimony and couldn't tell you how excited we are for the upcoming session. Mahalo Nui.

Thank you. Next up, IATI Local 665, Henry Fordham with comments in person.

Chair M Chair, Members of the Committee, my name is Henry Fordham. I've worked in the entertainment industry for over four years here and beyond. 29 years as a President, proud 665 Member. I stand on my testimony in support of this Bill and look forward to positive dialogue and advancement of these initiatives. Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Next up, Ricardo Galintes for Island Film Group. In person. In support.

Good afternoon. Chair, vice chair, Members of the Committee, Ricardo Gindez, co founder, Island Film Group. Stand in Strong support of this measure. Would offer a few comments. We've had independent third party review requirements before.

We did have an exemption for projects that were claiming less than a million dollars or I think less than a million dollars in spend. So exemptions for smaller projects would be appreciated.

The other issue is something that I think a couple years ago this Committee passed was a requirement that if a taxpayer is requested information from the Tax Department, they respond within 90 days. We would like for the Committee to consider reciprocal requirement that Department of Taxation respond to that information within 90 days.

Whether it's a thank you, we have enough or we need more information. We currently have an audit that's been going on for two and a half years that was fully certified for all. The six Hallmark movies that we prepared. And we still have not closed that.

Audit due to the delay in Department of Taxation even responding to the information we provided. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Kieran Polk. On behalf of Kapole Chamber of Commerce. I see Kiran. Kiran, sorry.

Chair, vice chair, Members of the Committee, Kieran Polk, Executive Director and CEO of the Kapoli Chamber of Commerce. We are in strong support of this measure. As you know, film for West Oahu has been one of our greatest economic drivers.

We have had NCIS, Magnum Y5O the gamut out there and really drives home the support of our small businesses. And that's the ripple effect that we don't see. Right. We don't see it in the direct numbers a lot of the times.

And those are our small businesses, our restaurants, our vendors, our transportation providers, equipment and rental companies, cleaning services. These small businesses, a lot of them mom and pop owned, they felt the brunt when some of these productions left. Right. And there was this gap. And so for this reason and so many others, we're strongly behind these measures.

We thank you for bringing them forward this session. I know it's been a journey, but, you know, such for such a time as now, we have the film studio in the planning and we need this in order to really make it all work together.

And I thank you for bringing this measure forward and thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. Next up, Angela Lapritte, International Cultural Arts Networks.

Chair, vice chair, Members of the Committee, I did submit testimony and I will stand on that. But I wanted to add that just a year ago you were on the set with us on Wrecking Crew and it's out right now as the number one show on Amazon streaming. And you know, we only shot 12 days on Oahu and 43 days in New Zealand, so We really hope.

Thank you so much for bringing this up for our industry because we need it and we really want to keep all the work here in Hawaii and keep our locals working and our vendors and our businesses. It impacts everybody. So mahalo.

Thank you. Next up, Tuana Scanlon in person for testifying on behalf of 665 in support. Next up, Alexandria Lincoln testifying for Hawaii Women in Filmmaking. Aloha.

Aloha.

Aloha. Chair, Vice chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Pai Lincoln. I'm the Malama Hui, or Executive Director of Hawaii Women in Filmmaking, and I'm here in support of SB 2580. Today's a la. And our ancestors tell us that this is the moon for planting tall growing trees, all trees.

Plants begin as seeds, and those seeds can be cultivated. They have to be cultivated and cared for before they can provide shade fruit, flowers for our community. SB2580 has the potential to plant many trees and seeds for our home. The tax incentive will undoubtedly attract big budget films to Hawaii.

And this is valuable, of course, but we would be remiss if we did not also invest in our own intrepid independent film industry. Independent films are a critical pipeline to this field. They're where local homegrown creatives build skills, develop careers, and tell stories that only Hawaii can tell.

The recent amendments that raise the upper limits are wonderful for large studios. However, I respectfully asked this Committee to consider lowering the minimum production cost to qualify for the tax credit to $10,000.

Doing so would make this incentive far more accessible to local independent filmmakers who are already putting in the work every day to grow Hawaii's creative industries.

By opening this tax credit, independent filmmakers, the Legislature would be investing in the seeds that would grow into a truly flourishing industry where our creatives can build careers here at home rather than being forced to leave and chase their dreams away from Hawaii. Mahalo. Mahalo.

So, okay, Kaya, Kylie in support, in person, On zoom, not present, on zoom. Chair support.

Shereen Ballas in support, Chair and Senators, my name is Shereen Dallas. I got 57 seconds. Okay. All right. So I am an independent filmmaker. I'm also an actress. I do catering. I also do set dressing, and I do props building on independent films. Some of the independent films. I also am a cultural advisor.

So one of the things that I had happen to me last year, it was very, very awesome. I got to interview be a part of the International Cultural Arts Network. And in being that I was able to create a short film when I created this short film.

Now, I can do the feature film, but I need that funds to do so. So I only did that because I lost my job as a recurring actress on NCIS Hawaii when they got canceled.

So if you guys could bring this, this forward for all of us, it would really help not just me, but everyone who else is in this industry. Thank you so much for hearing our testimonies. And we appreciate. We appreciate you guys for thinking about this.

Next up, Kendrick Farm on Zoom. Not present on Zoom. Chair. Cassie, feel hard in support. On Zoom. It.

Yes, sir. They are present on Zoom at the moment.

Okay. You said they they present or they're not present?

They are here. Terry. Yes.

Okay, go ahead.

What about Heidi Baringay? Baringay on Zoom.

Not present on Zoom. Chair and for Cassie, it seems like she might be having some technical difficulties.

I'll just go down the list. In Lucas Zambrano on Zoom.

Not present on Zoom Chair.

Or John Solano in person. John.

Thank you, Chair. My name is John Solano and I am part of the Hawaii Film Alliance. We stand in support. As you heard.

The reason I would like to be here to testify is to show great gratitude towards you, Chair, in the tireless time that you spent with us off session working with the industry, understanding our wants, needs and desires and how it works.

And it wasn't for you and the co Chair Wakai, we would not be where we are today. So I just want to give a heartfelt mahalo for bringing us this far.

No, thank you. Thank you for your testimony that a Committee did a really good job. Thank you, Committee. It Cassie on On Zoom yet?

Not at the moment. Chair.

What about Jacqueline Miramantes on Zoom? Not present. Chair Doreen Dye in person and support. And then Mark Petritz also in person. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify, stick your name.

Aloha, Chair DeCoite, Vice Chair Wakai and Members of the Committee. My name is Lucas Seno. I am the business agent for IATSC Local 665, representing behind the scenes, motion picture, television and live event workers across Hawaii. I respectfully submit a testimony in strong support of SB2580.

We are grateful for all the support from the Committee and the community on this measure. SB2580 makes targeted, necessary updates to Hawaii's motion picture, digital media and film production income tax credit, ensuring the program reflects today's production environment while supporting local workers and their families.

For our Members, this Bill can create stability in a current, current contracting marketplace. We have submitted additional written testimony and strong support of this Bill and stand by that testimony. Thank you.

You, Aloha, Chair and Members. My name is Ash Margado. I'm 19 years old. I am an actor and inspired film Director. I'm here in strong support of SB2580. Growing up here, I've always heard that if you want real opportunities in film, you have to leave Hawaii, leave your family, your home and your culture, and maybe come back someday. That is not the future what I want.

SB2580 gives young people like me hope that we don't have to choose between our dreams and where we come from. This Bill helps bring productions to Hawaii, which means opportunities for local talent Local actors, filmmakers, and crew to learn, work, and grow here. For me, filmmaking isn't just about the jobs.

It's about telling stories that reflect who we are and to pass on those stories up to the next generations. I want to film in Hawaii, hire local talent, and create work that inspires kids growing up here to believe they belong in this industry. Mahalo. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Anybody else wishing to testify?

Yes, that's me. I would love to testify.

Stephanie can hang on real quick, and then I'll come right back to you. Stephanie.

Hello. Brian Wallace. Thank you. Chair, Vice chair, Committee for scheduling. This Bill is very important to us. I just wanted to recognize, you know, last year the fire was lit under my butt to get involved, get educated with the process.

And from then till now, I just wanted to, you know, really say it's great to see all the support and hard work that you guys put into to come up with something like this. And seeing the process is so challenging.

And for you guys to be open, to be able to work with the industry experts that I've seen, it's really feels good to me. I was born into this industry. My dad just retired after 40 years. I've been in it 20 years. I'm now vice President of Local 665, board Member of Hawaii Film Alliance.

And we've been trained growing up in this, and we're so close to taking the reins from all these guys from the mainland that have been coming in and teaching us. Right? But we as locals are at that level to make the next jump, and this is critical. I'm so grateful for Wrecking Crew.

That was the only 12 days I worked last year on production. So I'm hanging on by our thread. And this is so essential to all of us. So thank you for hearing us.

Thank you. On Zoom. Go ahead.

Okay. Is it okay? Yeah. Yes. All right. Perfect. Aloha, everybody. Hello. My name is Kukiyo Sagira. I am High V Trip, Exposedly Chaotic Pink Bunny Mage, and I am part of Hybe Triple Expo. And I'm part of the vtuber industry. Sorry, earlier, we were having some issues with my.

My computer, so I'm so sorry about the technical difficulties. So. So I want to say with these bills that I have concerns about is besides these bills that are being addressed with the vertical stuff and the.

And the film industry, I really want to ask if and how is the Hawaii government going to support these VTubers, these virtual YouTubers and content creators, because we are the backbone of Hawaii's creative Economy. I've been in the vtuber industry for six years. I've been a content creator for six years on Twitch and YouTube.

And I want to say that this Bill, what I really want this Bill to do is address the amount of VTubers who are retiring or graduating or going on indefinite hiatus because they just no longer have the money to be able to sustain themselves. Many of them are working two to three jobs just to survive.

Many of them are living with four or five other people just to survive. Some of them are even operating on technology which is a few decades out of date. Like they're using technology from 2019 for example. Yes, that's my testimony.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead.

Thank you. Chair Members of the Committee, my apologies for being a little late. I was actually out in the field with one of our great productions. I stand on my written testimony and just a couple of friendly amendment comments. One is with regard to the third party audit to exempt productions under a million dollars.

I know that that has helped many of the smaller shows. The other is to look at some out of date language that limits the advertising on Internet only based distribution. It bans that. And the way that the industry is going with Amazon and Netflix having advertising based segments, I could see that becoming a conflict in the future.

But otherwise, thank you to everyone for your hard work and your support and your manao. I stand on my written testimony and I'm available if there's any questions.

Thank you. Angela.

Angela Melody on testifying and strong support. So I don't get paid to be on set. So it's not a conflict of interest for me to testify for funding for this industry.

So the tax credit as proposed targets high cost productions and I think it should consider amendment to cover low budget student projects which are produced by University of Hawaii students to cover $15,000. Half a million dollars.

A million dollar projects to strengthen the pipeline for workforce development in filmmaking as they transition from high school to college to a successful career. And actually I heard this talked about in the Ways and Means Committee by Jimmy and Dane a few years ago.

So, you know, they were working on it and Governor Green says $60 million budget is the high threshold to meet to have a good qualifying eligible project. And yet if you consider the people who have indie label managers and also like student projects, they need more financial benefits when they're just starting out in the industry.

So I think it's in the best interest to work cooperative, actively together and help each other. Yeah. Understand these dynamics. Thanks. Next.

Hi. Sorry, Kulani Watson parked across the street, had to run up here, five pigeons to get over here. So weird. Now I'm coming from a writer's perspective, strong support. Had a program with ICANN in the Writer's Invitational. Helped me kind of get my writing all together and continue pushing.

And I've written short films, I've written five feature films. And one of the things is if I'm trying to pitch to Hollywood or if I'm trying to pitch to Netflix or a streaming platform and they see that the backdrop is Hawaii and then they say, well, we're not going to, we're not going to do that because, you know, tax incentive, you know, all that, what we're talking about today.

But the, without even reading my story or, you know, we want to get stories made in Hawaii, but without even reading the story, it's already killed because we don't have the proper tax incentives. And just thank you for your time. I know my time's short, so just want to put that out there. Model.

Thank you. Anybody else wish. Anybody else wishing to testify? Let me take her first.

Hi, aloha everyone. I'm Christina Zazueta. I missed the submission to submit written testimony on time. So I just wanted to show my physical support. I support this Bill fully and my film family. I wanted to add to the 454 testimonies and strong support of this. So I appreciate you guys. Thank you.

Mahalo.

Thank you. Garrison Kay. From the Department of Taxation. Did you receive our testimony I sent you?

We can administrators. Thank you, sir.

I am nervous. My name is Mark Rosner. My brother Danny has Hawaii media upvale friends with Rick Galendez and everybody. I came here in the summer of 69 when I graduated college. So I guess we heard from the youngest guy here and now you're going to hear from the oldest guy here.

Ever since Jack lord started with 5-O, then you had Tom Selleck and then you had the next 5-O and the next Magnum and the next NCIS, et cetera, et cetera. Nobody was here before 5.0. The original. You don't know, no one's talking about tourism. This life, this is, you know, tourism here.

Without shows like 5-O and Magnum, et cetera, et cetera, bringing people here, you're in trouble, you're in deep trouble. And you don't know what it's like without 5-O or Magnum. And now we don't have any series. Wrecking Crew. Fantastic. I watched it the other night, but that's a one shot. We need a Series here.

My suggestion, and I appreciate what you said, you wrap it up because you're what keeps you. Wrap it up.

Yeah. Don't just compete with LA or Atlanta or Toronto or wherever, Vancouver. You got to blow them out of the water because you need it here for tourism as well as a second industry for this.

Sir, I love to blow stuff up. Don't worry. I understand, I understand. And I was still in embryo in 1969, so I got you. I love Jack Mart. Anybody else wishing to testify on this measure?

Dave Bergman, Retail Merchants of Hawaii. The Retail Merchants of Hawaii strongly supports this Bill and we align AAA Chamber of Commerce, that production crews and everyone involved help local communities and in our case, they support. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else wishing to testify on this measure, seeing none. Members, any questions? Senator Wakai, Georja.

Georja. I support the Bill. I support all the people in this room and those outside of this room who are fans of the filmmaking industry.

But one thing that troubles me about our continuous approach of trying to grow this industry is that the reason why we have nothing in the pipeline or very little in the pipeline is because it's too expensive to do filmmaking in Hawaii. And our approach year after year is to subsidize this industry.

As expenses go up, we are asked to put in more tax funds to meet those expenses. And I'm okay with that. But I think we still continue to miss the basic problem, which is it's too expensive or it's very expensive to do films here. Is there anything that government can do to lower the cost of.

Of businesses rather than just throwing more subsidies at it? I mean, like your film studios, right? Could we just give that away for the next series that comes here to get all of these people employed rather than just continuing to ask for $10 million more next year, another $10 million or what have you?

Yeah, well, thank you, Senator, for the question. And also I echo a bit of what your sentiment is. We don't want to make this a race to the bottom. We know that we have to balance what we're asking for, which is why this Bill in particular that we're talking about has that balanced approach.

You know, things like shipping interisland to help benefit our neighbor islands is so important. And working with the shipping industry to be able to bring those costs down. We actually, you know, attempted to do that.

And I think it's something with the leadership of the Department and the support of the governor's office and Legislature, we could look at. So that's one tangible that doesn't cost anything. And perhaps there's a way to make that work. It was a stumbling block.

And I can tell you that conversations in the downturn from the end of 2024 all the way until recently, we have not been able to attract the business because we are less competitive, because we're not at 30%. And we have offered, and I think this Bill also outlines that, a more conservative approach to the percentages.

And even if the additional 10 million doesn't work, if. If we at least deal with the cap and we add the base percentage at a higher rate, why would we need to come back? I think that will give us the competitive edge we need. Does that answer part of your question?

Part of it. So you bring up the cost of shipping to the neighbor islands. I mean, we know that film equipment is bulky and it's heavy and such. We mandate the PUC provide a lower rate for agricultural products for their shipping. I mean, couldn't we put that in display, make this a really holistic package rather than.

Here's some more tax subsidies, tax subsidies, tax subsidies. And start mandating, okay, the cost of shipping. You will have a special agricultural and film rate. In other areas, your film studio, there's a. If you're a series, you get it at a 50, whatever. You guys come up with the numbers.

But this idea of just always using tax money to subsidize this industry is not getting to the root of the problem, which is it's expensive in Hawaii. It is true. And just one thing I want to add before I turn it over to Director is that during the downturn, through the leadership of our Department, we did go out and tell people, if you can just cover the base costs, you can have the facility at no cost.

Yes to the facility part. So we're charging them utilities and security and maintenance. That's it. You know, they don't. As far as our research goes, they don't do that in other jurisdictions around the country. But that's something that we can do internally to help productions, and that's something we're doing.

The question or the comment that you brought up about the shipping part of it. I have been in contact with the Puc.

When Senator DeCoite brought up this Bill and it's been going on for, you know, a couple of years now, the thought was to put it in the Bill, but I think we've had the discussions, and we'll continue that discussion. Sessions not done for a while.

So if we don't make any headway, then that may be something as far as an amendment to add in as the Bill is moving. But that is one of the things that can be very, very helpful to the industry. And as you said Senator, doesn't cost the taxpayers money.

But there could be unintended consequences on the shipping rates. I don't know that there's that much shipping that it will impact that. And you know, to our friends Kaisha Young Brothers and Matson, they might disagree with what I just said.

But if we're going to be all in on the industry because this industry not only touches, you know, the industry, it touches visitors, it touches so many things. As was mentioned earlier, when you see something and the term bokum dano comes out in a movie and you see all these different sites and scenes from Hawaii, it makes you think about coming to Hawaii.

So yes, we are specifically addressing the things that you said center and hopefully that is the some of the things that we can do that doesn't cost the taxpayers anything.

But I would also say that in a time of economic uncertainty on the federal cuts and all of that, you know, Governor Green is all in and I know he met with Senator Decoy often and many of you he put in the $10 million to this budget when other other agencies are asked to, you know, be status quo.

So you know, it's, it's for DBED and our team. Thank you Governor for doing that because it makes it easier for you folks to has a budget when it's already in the governor's package. So thank you for the question, Senator.

So I started to follow up and I think you and I have had this conversation. We always talk about the film industry and everything it touches. I know we had Eugene there. My question was what part and what role does the film industry play in tourism and tourism marketing?

And I was just like taken aback when they hadn't had any numbers of whatsoever. For example, I said what does it cost me to Gordon's point, streaming 5o on one hour prime time. And the response to that time I believe came at $100 million that streamed across the world.

So I really wanted to keep get a better idea with the economists on 5 volt Magnum PI wrecking crew chief of War. What kind of marketing power and what cost of that marketing power does it have within our tourism industry of Hawaii? Because I think that has never been factored in to this body.

So you have better understanding of the tourism market. And you know as well as when we were in LA where that took us at the football game on the West Coast. So if you guys can get back to us, help this body as well as other chambers.

The acting chief economist is sitting in the room, and that is something that we spoke with the previous chief economist on sports and film. Certainly need to know what the impacts are. So when we spend money on those two things, sports and film, that we know what the return is on the investment.

Because I know that's a big question in the House and in the Senate as well. What are we getting for. So we need to do a better job getting that breakdown and data for all of you.

Thank you.

I want to follow up on that because we need to have data that shows the value of Philip's impact on tourism. You know, Jimmy, you and I have been working for the past few months on the tourism survey, right? We finally, after 79 years, got that from paper to digitized form.

And now, as a tourist coming in, I think of as of January coming in, it's digitized. And you can have questions that are specifically tailored for this industry. So if you say, I'm coming for the food, I'm coming for the volcano, you can have, I'm coming because I saw a film, right, that you can drop that down.

Was it Chief of War? Was it NCIS? Was it Hawaii 5-O? And then all of us on this side can say, like, wow, look at the impact of tourism. We should double down on this industry or whatever the case may be.

So those numbers are coming, right, because we're finally in the 21st century, got off paper and digitized ag forms that can give Jen the data she needs to see the value of film on tourism instead of all this anecdotal stuff that, zero, a lot of people go to Kualoa Ranch.

Therefore, film is viable, but it has to be much more strategic than that.

Yes. And we thank the Legislature for the funding of the mobile app to connect to the ag form. And it rolled out on December 24th. The rollout date was supposed to be January 1st, but according to the people that do it, it's not something you can turn on and slowly increase.

You got to get either on or off. So they did it on the 24th to say Merry Christmas to all of the people that were working on it. And it's not. We're not getting as many of the survey forms as we are of the ag forms. But you can see the numbers going up.

And that's the beautiful thing about something that's electronic. You can track it. And when you can track it, you can measure it and you can tell the success of It. So we have not had the discussion about drop downs on did you come here for this, this or that.

But we will be looking at all types of different things with that mobile app. It's going to allow us to do a lot of great things. And thank you for your support on that.

I want to follow up on that mobile app because I asked that in ways and means and it was the Department of Health, they said we needed to ask you what percentage of the forms coming in are they actually responding to the voluntary survey check?

Roughly, I mean.

Yes, sorry. We get about 700 completed surveys per day. So I would have to compare that to the number of completed off my arrivals. Sorry, I don't have the optimized arrivals number to compare it to.

So you don't know what percentage of the required. The people that are doing the health. I mean the AG side to how many of them are actually doing the volunteer side.

Correct Center. I have been keeping track of how many people are doing the digital children survey. Not necessarily the number of people.

So. So in the past when there was paper, what percentage of the people actually did the backside compared to those that did the egg forms?

I don't have the percentage of that, but we had approximately 11,700 completed.

That doesn't do me any good. I mean, it's a percentage. Okay, but that's something that you folks should. Can you get us that?

Yeah, send it to this Committee. Yes, thank you.

Because we need to see how effective it is. Because I know first of all, I have difficulty getting that. Getting the form. Okay, so now or before. Recently on the last trip we went, myself and one of the other House Members, one of us got on and one didn't.

And the next time the other got on, they rather did. So it was. And that's why I asked the question. And we don't take the time to fill out the backside. So a lot of people aren't filling out the survey.

So while it's really good to have it digital and have that information that I don't care how many drop downs you do it if people aren't answering it. So that's why I think, you know, you should have that information to see whether or not it's really effective.

We will, we will get that information. It's like I said, it started on December 24, so it's just over a month right now. What started December 24th? The survey? The digital.

No, it started before that. No, I went traveling before that. It was digital.

The. Well, the AG form. Yeah, the AG form has been almost a year and a half now.

But the survey, the survey was not on the rest of the form. It just started on the rest of on December 24th. Okay. I wasn't going to debate you, but okay, good, don't because I'm running out of time and that's why I didn't fill at the back because there wasn't a back.

To Senator Favella.

Yeah, just, just a couple of things on that. What Senator Glenn Makaya was saying, you know, CBS was going to leave. It wasn't only about the tax credits. We need to figure out how we can support industries, especially the series that come here on the GE tax.

When they buy goods and stuff like that from our local stores, local vendors, our local farmers, they pay that high GE tax that, that's a lot and on payroll, that's another thing that kind of killed the industry on over cost, triple tax, the 4 tax, whatever you like call them, it kills the industry.

So that wasn't only about the tax credits with NCIS was because of the duplicating on the taxes that they pay for GE. So if we're going to be looking for giving rates on studios, which is great, but we got to look at the supplies and goods that they buy from our local vendors like our small mom and pop stores, on how much stuff did they buy and how much is costing them in or on the GE tax going forward in the payroll.

That's something that we got to look into in helping them so that they want to stay here, that we make it a little bit more enticing that they want to stay and film here. Series, especially a long term series so that we can have it longer term.

Senator, I think the next Bill talks about the payroll part of it. Now when you talk about the products, vegetables, all of that kind of stuff, we have to be very careful about that because we'll be giving a tax credit to other people that the local people don't get.

And so I understand the intent, but we are specifically addressing, and I know for a fact a big production was going to come, but because they couldn't get this tax break or the double tax of the payroll, they left.

I'm not sure if that was the only reason, but I was on many hours of call with this production trying to help them to stay. But we're, we're attempting to address this in sb2796 and I know many of the people in this room just, just to follow, thank you for that.

Thank you for being an XPO But I understand that, you know, local people will say what we're giving them to them, but this is providing jobs. A lot of people don't. A lot of local people that I know don't like tourism, but we need tourism to move our industry.

So again, we have to figure out where we will tighten the belt. Belt here and there. And if that's going to entice them to come to start up our industry again and be strong again, then that's someplace to start.

I never said to do it forever, but we got to get people to come and want to stay and provide jobs for our people, too. Thank you.

We want to do as much as we can, all of us. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. Senator Kim. Yeah, I kind of want to deviate from this. Can we get an update on what's happening with the film studio on the west side? I mean, we were leasing one. The, uh, was going to do one now. I don't think. Uh, I'm not sure. Can you update us?

I can give you the details of the one that we oversee in Kalailoa.

I thought you were giving up that lease. No.

Well, we hope not.

No. But didn't you say that at one of the wamp?

No. So it's in negotiations right now with the Navy, and so we've been getting it for very, very, very minimal cost for I don't know how many years.

Since 2017.

Yes. But now with the negotiations of the Navy, the army is going first, is my understanding. This is a Navy facility. I spoke to the Governor a few times, asking him to put that facility on the top of the exchange list for state lands versus military lands. The studio is old. It needs repairs, but nobody.

We cannot give an extension on the lease because nobody has any certainty whether it's going to be still under the state or not. So we are trying to negotiate that in the land exchange.

But until that's done, nobody, not even Rick Galindez, is going to want to go in there if there's no certainty as to when this negotiation is done, if you still have a studio space or not.

And then what the military has said is that, you know, it'll be an increasing rate for the studio if they do keep it, and then it goes up to a million dollars a month. And I don't. It's going to be very hard to put the kind of improvements that are needed at that studio because it's huge.

There's two large buildings. But I'm not sure that any producer or.

So what's the Alternative. I mean, what's happening with the.

Then we lose that.

Yeah, then. But what's the alternative? I mean, I'm sorry, you talking about?

Uh. I don't know about, Uh, I. That's.

Rick can answer that, so.

Well, I don't know why you don't. You're not in contact with, uh.

Well, it's. They're. They're negotiating with a private entity, which is.

I thought. I thought their contract was up. I thought it was up in September. They had a no clause that. Right. You didn't have something like that.

You might want to talk to.

But as diva Director, I would think you'd be interested to know what's going on as far as the film studio, because it's important to the state. Right.

We've. Rick and I have met on three occasions. He's still waiting for his production plans and his studio plans. I'm sorry. And I don't. I don't want to speak for him, but we have met. We have met. We've had discussions. But it's a total public entity negotiating with the university for that space.

Okay. Private entity. My understanding is you had up until like, September of last year and then that date of what was that? Sole proprietary. I'm not sure. Can you explain?

Yeah, yeah. We are still in negotiations with the university for the ground lease and development agreement. Agreement. And so we have monthly meetings with them, and we're getting close. I think they're going to be presenting the board of regents next month for the ground lease and the development agreement.

So you had an agreement with, uh. That they could not enter into agreement with anybody else, but that ended. Right, In September of last year.

That ended. But it was extended.

Yeah, it was extended.

We were in. Still in negotiations, tended to win, but I don't think it was. It was not a determinant. We're waiting for the university to get back to us. So.

Okay, so how can you have an extension without a date and date?

I think you can look at the terms of the agreement. I think if we're in discussions and negotiations, which we were, then that could be extended.

Okay. Because I was told it was. That it ended. So, yeah, I would think that we would want to be aware of what's going on because this has been dragging on and on and on. And in the meantime, we may not have a studio at Kaililoa, we may not have a studio at West Oahu, and then what?

I mean, where are we?

Yeah. So it's not part of this hearing, but I can tell you that the governor's office and DBED have been working with Hawaiian homes and Dylan are on vacant space in Kalailoa and throughout this island. We've talked to a prominent studio that is looking at potentially building in Hawaii if the state can help them find that.

But you're not talking to, uh, at all?

Oh, no, I didn't say that. I did speak to Calvert. I met with Calpert with Rick in the room.

Calpert's not there anymore. So who have you met with recently?

Louis and Lewis took Calpert's place, so. Right. I just had a meeting with him last week, a discussion about what's the status. Because I too, like you want to know what's happening because we're D vet and we're cid but you know, Rick is the only one that can. That has the detail.

Can you, uh. Is the only one not Rick?

Well, his plan.

I don't know his plan, but it's, uh. That's gonna make. So can you, you know, doctor, can you just get back to us on. On what it. The update on the extension of that and then what uhls. Uh, yeah. Okay. And then just come back to us with that. Okay. I give one more.

One more bill to go through. Senate bill 2796, relating to taxation. Again, we have 411 people in support. One in opposition for comments. We get about 10 minutes before. It's a do or die situation for all of you. So I strongly urge everybody to stand on your testimony strong. Sir, even you. I strongly urge you to sit down right now because you're not first. Okay. Director Tokioka. Okay, thank you. Senate Bill 2796. Next up, Georja Skinner, creative industry, DBEDT.

Stand on our written testimony in support. Thank you.

Thank you. Department of Taxation. Okay, thank you. Tom Yamachika, Tax Foundation of Hawaii. Quick comments.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Tom Yamachika from Tax Foundation. Basically, what this bill does is it restores some of the tax interpretations to what they were before 2019. And I think this does address a number of the concerns that Senator Fevella expressed. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you. Irish Barber, Hawaii Film Alliance, in support.

Senator Wakai, thank you very much. I'm sorry. Senator DeCoite and Senator Wakai and the Members of the Committee. This bill is very important to the studios. This is our number one priority for many of the bigger shows. So we stand in full support of this measure. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Ricardo Galindez in support. Next up, Melissa Patack, Motion Picture Association, on Zoom. Melissa.

Yes, thank you. Yes, can you hear me? Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Senator DeCoite, Chair DeCoite, and Vice Chair Wakai. We stand on our testimony.

This is three issues related to the GET that if this bill passes would be fixed and would make the Hawaii incentive much more attractive to our member companies and their movies and TV shows that they produce. So we urge that you advance this bill. It is our top priority for this year. And I'm happy to answer any questions, but don't want to take too much of the committee's time. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Next up, Henry Fordham, IATSE 665, in support. Thank you. Next up, Tuia'ana Scanlan, IATSE 665, in support. Kiran Polk, Kapolei Chamber of Commerce. Thank you. Shereen Balles. Thank you. Keala Kekaualua. Thank you. She's in support. Mana Mahiai in support. Heidi Berengue, support. Thank you.

Lucas Zambrano in support. And then anybody else wishing to testify without having to... Yeah, thank you. Anybody else wishing to testify? Not having to reiterate the entire bill to me about what the bill is about, but, like, say something actually. I'll hold you to it.

Angela Melody Young. I'm testifying in strong support. So I think an organized approach to redirect growth and expansion in the filmmaking industry. You need a representative from the University of Hawaii, the School of Cinematography.

Representation from creative nonprofits and businesses that are doing, you know, coaching schools for actors, creative workshops, teaching students to win Nā Hōkū Hanohano, the Hawaiian version of the Grammys. And then you're gonna also need representation from indie recording labels and music attorneys.

And how each of these groups within the industry support the state financially with economic development to understand these unique funding structures. And so to organize a task force with an appropriation of funds for debating these priorities and then to propose a legislation I think is a very strategic plan of action.

What are the industries and what is the licensing action plan? Working with major production companies like Netflix and Disney. So thank you so much. Also my co-star at Disney producer. I'll tell you later.

Thank you. Anybody else wishing to testify in this measure? See none. Members, any questions? See none. Okay, we're going to recess for one minute for decision making. Okay.

Convenient back for decision making on Tuesday February 32026 at 1:00pm first up, Senate Bill 2031 relating to consumer protection. We're going to be passing this bill in SD1 by incorporating the amendments recommended by D. CCA any discussion seeing none.

Vice chair for the vote Chair goes I I vote yes. Senator Fukunaga, Senator Kip I Senator Fabella I show your recommendations adopted.

Thank you. Next up, Senate Bill 2129 relating to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism we are going to be passing with an SD1 by changing the submission date to 12-31-2027 is recommended by DEB making any technical non substantive amendments is necessary in defecting the effective date to 07-01-2050.

Any discussion see none Vice chair for the vote Chair goes I noting the presence of all Members any opposition or reservations I mean senior her lunch Are your recommendations adopted?

Thank you. Next up, Senate Bill 2259 relating to the Department of Business Economic Development Tourism we will be passing with an SD1 by making any technical non substantive amendments as necessary and defecting the effective date to July 1st, 2050. Any discussion seeing nonvise chair for the vote?

Chair goes aye Noting the presence of all Members any opposition or reservations receiving her non chair.

Your recommendations adopted. Thank you. Senate Bill 2577 relating to sports tourism passing with an SD1 by changing the submission date to December 312027 as recommended by DBAID making any technical non substantive amendments as necessary defecting the effective date to July 1st, 2050. Any discussion? Sure.

This is just for try to bring sports and tourism together, right? Nothing to do with gambling? No, no. Thank you.

Any other discussion Seeing none Question for the vote?

Sure goes I Voting the presence of all Members Any opposition or reservations seen and heard? None. Sure. The recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Senate Bill 2570 relating to the film industry we're passing with an SD1 incorporating into the Committee report considering Iatsi, SAG, AFTA and Teamsters as part of recommendation for the film commission making any technical, technical, non substantive amendments as necessary and effecting the effective date to 07-01-2050.

Chair I also said musicians if can.

I'll go add them to the Committee report. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other discussion seeing non vice chair for the vote Chair goes I noting the presence of all Members Any opposition or reservations seen and heard? None. Sure, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you.

Next up, Senate Bill 2580 will be passing with an SD1 by incorporating the amendment recommended by Dotex to change Section 5 of the Bill to state that Section 1 shall apply to costs incurred after December 312025 rather than the current language stating taxable years beginning after December 312025 and making any technical non substantive amendments as necessary and defecting the effective date to 1-1-20202050.

Any discussion see none vice for the vote Chair rules I noting the presence of all Members any opposition or reservations having seen inherit none your recommendations adopted.

Thank you. Next up, Senate Bill 2796 relating to taxation will be passing with an SD1 by incorporating the amendments recommended by do tax in their testimony May making any technical non substantive amendments is necessary and defecting the effective date to January 1st, 2050. Any discussion seeing none Oyster for the vote Chair goes I presence of all Members.

Any opposition or reservations recommendation is adopted.

Thank you and thank you to everybody who came out in support and testified on behalf of the film edition all the other bills.

With that we are adjourned.