After hours of discussion, lawmakers Friday could not reach a consensus to advance a bill that proposed to disband the Hawai i Tourism Authority (HTA).
Lawmakers defer bill nullifying HTA thegardenisland.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thegardenisland.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Fears faced by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority were tempered on Friday when House Bill 1375 was deferred in conference committee. The measure would have transferred functions, duties, appropriations, and positions of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority to the Office of Tourism and Destination Management. But the HTA does not emerge on solid ground, since funding for marketing was not included in the state budget.
The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority faces its most critical week since its 1998 creation as lawmakers consider a state budget that could zero out its funding or drastically reduce it, and begin the final push in advance of Friday’s decking deadline on two bills that could repeal the agency.