Lawmakers
extend life of
Convention
Center panel
Discussion of a merger
By Russ Lynch
with the HTA is put off
Star-Bulletin
The Convention Center Authority has been given an added year of life, as state lawmakers allowed themselves more time to consider whether it should be merged into the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Separate measures in this year's legislative session approached the future of the organizations in different ways. The Legislature, which adjourned Tuesday, killed one bill that would have pooled the two groups into an expanded tourism authority, with guidelines on how the revenues generated by the hotel room tax would be spent.
While the HTA did not take an official position on the bill, HTA members raised concerns that the merger could have jeopardized tourism funding by making it responsible for the mounting interest costs on the convention center's construction debt.
Various drafts of the bill sought ways to correct that and state officials said they believed the center could be refinanced to keep interest payments below the amount of incoming tax revenues.
State legislators did pass another bill that extends the sunset date for the Convention Center Authority to June 30, 2000. The CCA, a volunteer board with a paid executive staff, was formed in 1988 to oversee the design and construction of a new center to attract conventioneers from out of state. It was due to be disbanded this June.
The $350 million Hawaii Convention Center opened last July on the former Aloha Motors site at Kapiolani Boulevard and Atkinson Drive.
The center has a professional management team in place and the long-term marketing is done by the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, supervised by the HTA, but the CCA continues to represent the public's interest and to make policy decisions on the center's operations.
Legislators also passed another bill that requires the HTA to come up with a long-term policy for Hawaii tourism as a whole, report the policy to the 2000 Legislature, and stick to it in future decisions.
Bob Fishman, chief executive of the HTA, said the authority has been working hard on developing that policy.
