House Standing Committee on Economic Development & Technology

I just wanted to thank this body and the Senate for really working together to pass a measure this year to help our film industry. A lot of good ideas have been presented. That's why we support this measure, and we have some comments to clean up the grant language and the tax credit management. Thank you.

So Yeah. So, hang on one second, please. Georgia Skinner creative industries division and just to point out that there was a question that we had any any I think the sunset date and the strength of the measure is very strong for this particular measure We do have comments on 2578 however but for this measure I don't think that there's anything major although there are other Oh so

Not to this.

Yes, correct. I sort of condensed them into one to save time.

No, thank you very much. Here for more questions. Thanks.

Okay. Okay. I stand on my testimony. Okay. I'll come up with the help

Thank you Well I think it's important because both measures are very important to the industry and I'm sure you'll hear that from other testifiers the only areas we would like to point out are certain things the development of a commission does help formalize and strengthen to have an advisory committee as well as the functioning knowledge from institutional knowledge from the existing staff that would move with it Of course that reduces the number of staff in creative industries.

However we think that the idea and the way that it has been presented is good. There may be some additional either members or ways to structure the advisory board.

The main thing here is to highlight a couple of things The challenges between one entity managing a grant program and the film tax credit can be problematic and the reason being that the tax credit itself it really is managed already by the tax credit unit within creative industries And so what that means is that that structure then would have to move but that's going contrary to the department's request in HB 1,800 HD1 and whatever happens in the Senate where we are establishing a tax credit unit in the director's office to have a higher level to be able to then work with the subject matter experts everywhere Also as mentioned yesterday the timing of a grant program they have to be before the tax credit or they have to track at the same time So determination and Mary I have some clarifying language that I'd like to present to the introducers as well as the house that would explain that Grant program as written and as has been discussed in the legislature before is something that would be incentivizing on top of the existing So it's a layering of credits but you don't want to have the same person managing both So the idea is that within the commission identify perhaps another position or designate that for the advisory group and then what are the parameters of the responsibilities and the actions of that advisory group They would work together there's no question whether the tax credit unit is in DBED or not but we prefer it there that is our intent because operationally we feel that that's very important both programs are needed and here's the reason why is that you have the tax credit that has its already structure it is going to be enhanced thankfully and pass this session with these amendments that we're hearing today and throughout the session.

However, we do want to make sure that if there is a grant program and this tax credit cap authority, you can't keep crossing these things.

So I believe that you know working with the introducer as well as the house to find a way to enhance language and we would like to provide that second is the we are fine with the separating of the creative industries film and creative industries development fund that's HRS two zero one one thirteen that's fine However media we feel should remain with the creative industries fund and the reason being is the intent of the legislation initially was about incentivizing local talent local talent that is creative content writing directing producing and also all other areas of emerging media and the emerging creative industries so we see the grant program for the commission as a grant program for the larger productions maybe mid tier some of those that are produced by local companies here and those would be the grant program and then the existing program would just be for local media content.

Those are the only areas that I see really of needing further discussion so we can pass the measure.

Okay. Thank you.

Yeah, so I appreciate the constituent's comments. I did read it briefly.

I think that the transparency and the management of the current 02/2017 the Hawaii film motion sorry motion picture digital media and film tax credit is managed very well and transparently the goal of I think what I mentioned earlier was that perhaps waiving the cap by an advisory group is not the best idea perhaps there are other ways to do this and I think in current measures that have been introduced there is other language that might be included and I referenced the separating of the grant program from the tax credit most of the spit one of the specified reasons is because I don't know how a body who isn't held accountable necessarily but I don't know the intricacies of what the advisory committee does in terms of AG's office so I don't want to cross any lines there and assume but I would think it would be highly challenging and perhaps not the best direction

in an in essence yes however we are transparent and we do all our reporting for the state so I do understand I think the concern from the constituent is coming from a place of reading the bill and perhaps without some additional knowledge of the three people that manage these credits and also the very strong oversight of our department and DOTAX because ultimately DOTAX decides with each filer that files DBEDT does not DBEDT does not write any checks and DBEDT currently doesn't waive anything

you I think the majority of these the genesis of this and bills that were introduced in prior session were also from an aggregate voice of the community strengthening and it's not rebranding it is strengthening and making us competitive by having all the industry representatives at the table as opposed to how it is now with ad hoc Okay, I'm not dissing the structure of the Hawaii film office which is within creative industries nor am I saying that the county film offices are ad hoc and and no direction No, that's not the case They work collaboratively.

But when you have a structure like this that is very specific to a new structure that is looking at the entire ecosystem of not only workforce development as you heard earlier also the management of a grant program a new fund that they can then provide funding to the advice of right but with a staff person that's responsible and accountable and also the idea that they have the possibility to move into an infrastructure development phase that's done all across the country and I think our director has cited much of that in his testimony regarding this measure so this is a very necessary I would say structural change not just in name only It's not just shifting from one to another We are talking about building something that will last building something of the legislature can embrace and hold other people accountable in addition to our department and we hope to really emphasize that again the grant program and the current film fund that is in place now we have no opposition to it being split apart and we have some concerns about the media language but at the moment there's nothing else that would prevent us If we want to be competitive in a global and a US market Raising the incentive having the commission structure which is a defective date till much later.

It's not July 1 It's you know 2027 gives us the time to formulate it well

On the entire commission?

I didn't author the measure but I would say that probably this is to have a structure in which you have more voices at the table more accountability between the industry and those who are handling film permitting for example which does migrate over in the

Yeah Coming together in a

I think the idea is very valid and and definitely, chair, it has been discussed not only in the HTA film committee but also with us with the state archives at one point in time I can say that because the state film office has been around since 1978 there is a lot of already hard props hard props and other elements of the industry I think what you're talking about is very logical I think that there's a partnership and an MOA between multiple agencies that would be helpful including DAGS Thank you and and it's an important step in the right direction first thing foremost is making the credit competitive being able to have a body that is larger and have more responsibilities and in that Museum would be a great consideration it would fall under probably the marketing committee Thank you.

You're welcome.

Oh one last thing productions historically do donate excessively to the community or in terms of their workforce development requirement as part of the tax credit whether it's cash or internships they already do that but to your point of selling these items the example is lost because lost when they shuttered they later on I think I don't remember the exact time frame but they did hold an online auction of a lot of the elements they also gifted a lot of those elements to the state phone office so we have the assets we'd be happy to work with anyone Okay.

Thank you.

They're not, but you can ask me.

I will happily. And one of the things that we have discussed in the past and I believe when our director was that Department of Transportation before he became our director director Tokyo and some of our community members also talked about music and film as displays in the airport which many many states have and of course Nashville has so we'd like to do that same kind of

Dennis,

Hello. My name is Katie Chen. I'm the president and CEO of Goodwill Hawaii, and we stand in strong support for SB 2436 SD two. And thank you for allowing me to come before you today, chair and vice chair. This bill is extremely important to restore the trust of our donors.

Right now, there's all these donation receptacles out in the community, and they are not being properly monitored by the attorney general's office under the charitable act. They're soliciting goods and it's often frustrating to understand whether these goods are in fact benefiting the charities that they claim to be. They are being solely operated by for profit entities and we think that it's really important at since they are for profit solicit charitable solicitors that they be held accountable with this charity act.

And we, Foodwell Hawaii, has been a local nonprofit since 1959, and we rely on these donations. And when people donate and realize later that maybe their entire donation does not benefit an actual charity, it, leads to a troubling trend of loss of, trust in the charitable process, and that affects organizations like ourselves.

The we do know that the attorney general has requested additional funds to they they're fine with this bill, but they're requesting additional funds to enforce it. However, we, as Goodwill Hawaii, are one of over 10,000 charities each and every year that pay into a fund that supports that office to enforce the charitable laws. So that, fund is already sitting at over $5,000,000 and so, as of the 2024.

So the attorney general's office does have the resources in which to, support, or enforce, this bill should it pass.

So, thank you. Are there any questions?

have any questions. Okay.