Lingle vetoes
HTA money$8 million was intended for
the state tourism agency
to pay down debt
Gov. Linda Lingle has vetoed several tourism-related measures pushed by state Sen. Donna Kim, stalling the Hawaii Tourism Authority's efforts to solve its debt problem by withholding $8 million from the state agency.
Among the dozens of measures that Lingle vetoed Friday night was a bill that would have given the authority an extra $8 million the agency had banked on using to fix a debt problem that has cost the state in interest payments.
In her veto message, Lingle said she was not opposed to the $8 million appropriation, but cannot support other language in the bill that would have exempted the authority from state auditing and accounting procedures.
The authority has been seeking autonomy from these rules because it wants to create an internal system of controls and cash management so it can pay contractors on time. Businesses and groups that work with the authority often have to wait before they receive payment, drawing complaints.
Lingle said it would be "duplicative and wasteful" for the authority to hire its own budgeting staff, among other problems.
"Our administration has worked, and will continue to work, with HTA to streamline the contracting process and expedite payment to vendors, while still ensuring efficiency, accountability, and responsible use of public funds," Lingle said in her veto message.
Rex Johnson, the authority's chief executive, said the agency is disappointed with the veto. Until the debt problem is resolved, the authority will either have to hold back spending on tourism marketing, or incur more interest payments. Johnson said the authority may discuss the matter further with Lingle.
Without the $8 million, the authority will have a $61 million budget in the fiscal year that starts next month.
Lingle also vetoed a so-called loyalty bill that would have required that the authority use protective language in awarding the state's million-dollar tourism marketing contract, which is held by the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau. The authority has already inserted such language in the bureau's current contract, which expires at the end of this year. Under the contract, the bureau must pay a $25,000 penalty for each time it speaks out against the HTA, or uses taxpayer funds to lobby against the HTA.
Kim, the state senator who pushed the bill, said the law is needed to make sure that such requirements are always used in future contracts, to protect the state's interests.
Lingle said the loyalty requirement was inappropriate because it was "micromanagement" of a state agency's function.
Kim (D, Kalihi Valley) said it was ironic that Lingle worried about micromanagement, but vetoed the HTA's autonomy measures.
Lingle said the loyalty bill violated the principle of separating the legislative branch of government from the executive branch.
Lingle also vetoed a bill that would have required the tourism authority to disclose subcontracts that are paid with state funds, saying the measure had a major problem.
As written, the bill would leave it up to the person who is providing the information to the authority to decide whether any of the information is "proprietary" and can be kept secret. That's a decision for the state Office of Information Practices to make, Lingle said in vetoing the measure.
Kim said that "it might not have been the best bill," but the Legislature wanted to affirm that contracts funded with state money should be disclosed to taxpayers.
If the bill were fixed, Lingle said, she would support it in a future legislative session.