State Sen. Donna Mercado Kim has asked Hawaii’s attorney general to determine whether the Hawaii Tourism Authority is violating open-meeting requirements by discussing public matters in closed-door executive sessions.

Kim said Friday she wrote Attorney General Douglas Chin after becoming increasingly concerned that board minutes, which have dwindled from 20 plus pages to as few as four, lack substantive discussion. Kim told Chin in a letter Wednesday that HTA’s board may be using a sunshine exemption given to them in 2010 by the Legislature to “skirt the law to discuss many things in private that are not exempted.”

In her letter to Chin, Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moanalua- Halawa) said it had come to her attention that the HTA board had discussed general budget information and salary increases in executive session, preventing these decisions from being recorded in meeting minutes. Without open dialogue, Kim said it’s hard to discern whether there is accountability between the HTA staff and its board and that special-interest decisions aren’t being made.

“I’m concerned about healthy discussion by board members prior to making a decision,” said Kim, chairwoman of the Senate’s Government Operations Committee.

Joshua Wisch, special assistant to the attorney general, said Chin has received Kim’s letter. However, Wisch said he “could not say when a response would be ready.” Since responses to legislators are subject to attorney-client privilege, Wisch said they are “typically not made public.”

Kim’s action follows several weeks of negative publicity about HTA’s lack of transparency. State senators excoriated the agency, which gets $108.5 million in public funds to market state tourism and oversee the Hawai‘i Convention Center, in early January for refusing to provide unredacted budgets.

HTA took more heat after a Jan. 16 Honolulu Star-Advertiser article highlighted the frequency of its executive sessions. Newspaper research showed the percentage of closed-door business HTA conducts under President George Szigeti was more than 50 percent — at least double that of his two most recent predecessors going back to 2011.

HTA Board Chairman Rick Fried, a prominent Honolulu attorney, and Szigeti defended their decision to withhold what they deemed “proprietary information,” saying that disclosure would harm Hawaii’s “competitive advantage.” It was only after HTA got blasted by lawmakers and visitor industry members for this stance that it agreed to provide some lawmakers, who promised to keep the information secret, detailed budgets.

Senate Bill 1084, introduced by Sen. Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi-Salt Lake), chairman of the Senate’s Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology Committee, is likely to be heard Wednesday. The bill would end a 2010 exemption that allowed HTA to discuss “competitively sensitive” information behind closed doors. It also mandates that HTA provide unredacted budgets to the leaders of the legislative tourism and finance committees.

Fried told the newspaper Friday that the board would welcome the opinion of the attorney general and already has begun reducing its use of executive sessions.

“If they pass a bill that says there’s no more executive session, well, there won’t be anymore executive session. But I do think that the statute is there for a good reason. The important takeaway is that we are going to work with the (Legislature) to do what’s best for tourism and to make sure that they’re happy and understand what we are doing is only for that purpose,” Fried said.

Fried said he’s also got the board backing to invite legislative leaders in tourism and finance, including the head of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and anyone else with a “need to know,” to attend board meetings and executive sessions.

“We understand their concerns and want them to see for themselves that we aren’t trying to hide anything,” Fried said.

Sen. Will Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point), who signed Wakai’s bill, said lawmakers want to ensure that HTA grasps state sunshine laws.

“We aren’t here to handicap the agency or put obstacles in front of it. We are here to make certain that the public understands what’s going on and we understand the rationale for decisions being made and that they are being made in the best interest of our state,” Espero said.

Kim said if she and other lawmakers aren’t reassured, HTA could lose its flexibility to discuss “proprietary” information behind closed doors. “Members could get to the point that they cut their budget,” she said.

Sherry Menor-McNamara, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii president and chief executive officer, said HTA must find balance between confidentiality and transparency. “On the transparency issue, we certainly understand the need for organizations to keep competitive strategies proprietary. At the same time, I support the public’s right to know how taxpayer money is being spent,” Menor-McNamara said.

Chris Tatum, area general manager for all Marriott brands in Hawaii, said transparency is important to the industry, which performs best when it’s working together.

“As a group, we have some tremendous resources here in Hawaii. The more that we come together, the more we can drive business,” said Tatum, who also heads the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau board. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet with Sen. Wakai and have been very impressed with his industry engagement desire to support our efforts.”