Privatize. Or at least study the possibility.

That was the conclusion of the Senate Economic Development and Ways and Means committees yesterday.

The two panels passed a measure that would authorize the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to explore the possibility of selling or leasing to a private firm the nearly completed convention hall just outside Waikiki.

The bill now advances to the full Senate for a floor vote next week.

State Budget Director Earl Anzai told the panels that during the next six years, the convention center's expenditures will greatly exceed revenues.

As a result, the center, touted as a major visitor lure, will require state subsidies because it is projected to operate at a loss of $37.3 million to $44.5 million a year.

Seiji Naya, director of the Department of Business and Economic Development and Tourism, said, "As you know, the administration is concerned about the increasing debt service costs for the convention center."

Privatization may resolve the problem, Naya said. If a company bought the center, it could lease the center back to the state to cover its purchase cost.

Four public employee unions - Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Government Employees Association, United Public Workers and the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly - submitted testimony in favor of the proposal to formulate a privatization plan for the center.

Teachers union lobbyist Maurice Morita that the unions' testimony simply signals a willingness to study privatization, not a willingness to sacrifice state workers' jobs when a private firm takes over a state function. In written testimony, HSTA President June Motokawa said: "We firmly believe that the Legislature must explore alternatives, no matter how drastic, in order to realize fiscal stability - as long as it's not at the expense of existing employees. As the convention center has yet to be completed, the impact privatization would have on employees is nonexistent."