Hawai‘i Tourism Authority could be replaced with new governance

Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki), chair of the House Committee on Tourism, warned the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority during a Wednesday board meeting that the coming passage of Senate Bill 1571 —which upon Gov. Josh Green’s signature will dramatically change HTA’s governance model — reflects a loss of confidence so deep that he is already considering a bill to upend the agency next year.

Tam told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that SB 1571 represents the biggest governance changes to HTA since it was created, but that it may not be enough to fix all of the agency’s shortcomings. Tam said that he is exploring drafting a bill to implement all of the recommendations in a third-party governance study released last July by Better Destinations LLC, founded by Cathy Ritter. The study, which cost nearly $300,000, recommended that a private, independent, nonprofit Destination Stewardship Organization (referred to as a DSO) replace the HTA, which was created by the state Legislature more than a quarter of a century ago.

The new model, dubbed “Governance with Aloha,” is described by Better Destinations as a “community-first regenerative mindset” that delivers not only a healthy tourism economy but addresses local priorities and improves unique assets through ongoing collaboration.”

Mahina Paishon, HTA vice chair and vice chair of HTA’s Governance Study Permitted Interaction Group (PIG), told the Star-Advertiser on Wednesday that PIG has not made its official recommendation on the governance study’s findings to HTA “primarily because we wanted the governance study to help inform and to coincide with the planning efforts this summer for the HTA Strategic Plan, the next round of Destination Management Action Plans, and the Tourism Functional Plan.”

If Tam and other lawmakers push the Better Destinations recommendation forward, it likely would put HTA’s long-standing and largest contractor, the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau, back in the driver’s seat — after all the private nonprofit membership organization was founded in 1945 making it many decades older than HTA.

In the meantime, HTA is facing more immediate changes from SB 1571, which will take effect upon Gov. Josh Green’s signature. The bill:

>> Downgrades the HTA board to an advisory board.

>> Amends eligibility requirements to serve on the HTA advisory board.

>> Removes the director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism from the board.

>> Requires a member of the board to represent a tourism-impacted entity.

>> Allows the House speaker and the Senate president to each appoint an HTA advisory board member.

>> Exempts all positions filled by HTA within DBEDT from the state civil service law.

>> Allows the HTA advisory board to appoint the HTA president and CEO, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

>> Requires the HTA president and CEO to report to the governor.

>> Allows the HTA advisory board to set the term of the HTA president and CEO in the hiring contract.

>> Clarifies that the Hawai‘i Convention Center must reflect a “Hawaii” sense of place instead of a “Hawaiian” sense of place.

Tam clarified that the shift in the sense of place “was meant to be inclusive.” But Paishon told the Star-Advertiser that she is concerned that the change from a “Hawaiian” sense of place to a “Hawaii” sense of place may leave too much open to interpretation.

“I don’t want it to be interpreted as a policy change that means we are supposed to deemphasize Hawaiian culture,” she said.

Tam said lawmakers passed SB 1571 because “we just wanted to have some oversight over the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority — what we have seen and it has been made clear to other members of the legislature as well as the public that the politics of the board has really seeped into the governance and to the policies of the authority and the authority (has been) negatively impacted because of it “

Tam said lawmakers were trying to send HTA a strong message with the passage of SB 1571 and “were hoping that things would start to get better and improve. However, unfortunately to myself and to others, it has progressively gotten worse so I am already trying to really tune into the governance study that was created and look at each recommendation and possibly start to craft a bill.”

Tam said he was reluctant initially to use SB 1571 to downgrade HTA into an advisory board; however, “due to basically what was negatively put into the press to the audits to the unpaid invoices, interest, allegations of toxic work environment and the list just goes on, the Legislature and I myself felt like this would be a step in the right direction.”

In the past several months, HTA has undergone dramatic leadership shake-ups as it has struggled to address allegations of inappropriate freebies at the Hawai‘i Convention Center and inconsistencies in its Hawaii Tourism Conference partnerships.

There were also allegations about potential procurement violations and late payments to contactors.

State Sen. Kurt Fevella (R, Ewa Beach), HTA contractors, former HTA employees and some board members also alleged in a Star-Advertiser story on May 4 that HTA and the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism failed to respond promptly to complaints about a hostile work environment — including alleged racist and sexist comments — that they claim contributed to the recent resignations of five Native Hawaiian members of HTA’s leadership team.

Isaac Choy, HTA vice president of finance and acting chief administrative officer, was put on unpaid leave May 9 at the direction of the state Department of the Attorney General and the Department of Human Resources amid allegations he made racist and sexist remarks on the job. Since Choy was the project manager for $100 million of repairs at the Hawai‘i Convention Center, his absence could extend the center’s planned construction beyond two years, putting the state at risk of losing millions of dollars in group tourism bookings.

While the state Comptroller Keith Regan told the HTA board Wednesday that the Department of Accounting and General Services would take on the project, he advised that the timetable was “aggressive. “

Tam said the public has started to take notice of HTA’s challenges and that members of the Ala Moana Neighborhood Board on Tuesday night told him that “they were genuinely concerned about the loss of (Hawai‘i Convention Center) business, the reputation behind that and whether or not those clients would come back.”