Cayetano vetoes closed-
door tourism meetings

Star-Bulletin staff

Gov. Ben Cayetano has vetoed a bill in which legislators allowed the Hawaii Tourism Authority to keep some of its documents secret from the public.

The governor pointed out that lawmakers added the language exempting the agency from open government laws during conference committee meetings late in the session without hearing testimony from the public or the state Office of Information Practices.

The bill allowed the Tourism Authority to hold closed-door sessions and withhold information if directors thought it would hurt Hawaii's competitive edge in the visitor industry marketplace.

The Honolulu Community Media Council and others urged the veto.

Other bills vetoed by the governor included measures that:

Provided for early childhood screening for disabilities.
Required the state Director of Finance to include funding for athletics when budgeting for a new school.
Established a rural health plan and created positions for coordinators in each county.
Required the Department of Education to report to the Legislature and all schools its budget allocations for each school by the opening day of each legislative session.