Bill requires economic diversification plan

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer

State officials would be required to create a plan to diversify Hawai'i's tourism-based economy under a bill making headway in the Legislature.

The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism also would be required to propose legislation to implement the plan and promote Hawai'i as a state friendly to business.

Senate Ways & Means Committee passed the measure, House Bill 1579, to the full Senate, which passed the bill with amendments and returned it to the House on Tuesday.

The state has struggled for decades to overcome a reliance on tourism and the subject was the focus of the Hawai'i Revitalization Task Force in the late '90s.

While the state has made progress developing other business sectors such as technology, biotechnology and diversified agriculture, the economy continues to rely heavily on the visitor industry.

House Rep. Brian Schatz, D-25th (Makiki, Tantalus), said he introduced the diversification bill to increase the profile of the issue and encourage coordination between state agencies that deal with the economy, including DBEDT, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

"We need to refocus," he said. "The point is to enhance the idea of economic diversification and to ensure that all of the different economic diversification efforts are on the same page."

The measure calls on the agencies to integrate education, workforce development and economic development efforts into one diversification strategy. The efforts could include fostering growth of military and technology industries, and diversifying tourism by targeting visitors interested in education, the environment and health and wellness.

The state has no strategic plan now, said DBEDT Director Ted Liu. He said while he supports the bill's intent, DBEDT like all state agencies is already struggling to do more despite budget cuts.

"The only concern I have is that it is unfunded," Liu said.

Any long-range economic diversification plan would need to include short-term efforts that could be accomplished during the current administration's tenure, Liu said.

"We can always have plans that talk about where we're going in the future," Liu said. "The plan is to come up with something that can be done now."

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.