Lingle economic plan faulted
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
Key Democratic legislators said yesterday that Gov. Linda Lingle's vision for reorganizing the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism doesn't do enough to further efforts to diversify the state's economy.
Several lawmakers in the state House said they expect to introduce a bill within days calling for more significant changes. Their effort comes one day after Lingle discussed her own plans for the department, which she has criticized as overburdened and unfocused.
Talk of reorganizing DBEDT isn't new. But the effort is taking on more heft, with both the governor and legislators in agreement that the department must do a better job of expanding the state's economy and reducing its dependence on tourism.
Lingle's plan calls for spinning off the department's public housing duties, cutting most planning functions and moving its land zoning function to the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Lingle also wants to combine the Aloha Tower Development Corp. and the Hawai'i Community Development Authority, which manages development of the Kaka'ako area.
Rep. Brian Schatz, D-25th (Makiki, Tantalus), said his bill would combine numerous department agencies, and their separate boards of directors, into one agency focused exclusively on diversifying the economy.
The move would reduce duplication, increase cooperation between the agencies developing the Aloha Tower and Kaka'ako areas, and bolster state efforts to develop alternative energy sources, technology and venture capital, Schatz said.
Schatz, chairman of the House Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns, said Lingle's reorganization plan for DBEDT does not place enough emphasis on diversifying the state's economy away from tourism and agriculture.
"If you don't have an over-arching plan, then essentially what you're doing is moving around people's office areas," Schatz said. "We will look at (Lingle's) ideas. We're open to ideas. But we think our ideas are much more strategic, frankly."
Schatz proposes merging the development agencies, along with DBEDT's marketing agency, into one called the Economic Diversification Authority. Doing so would allow the new agency to issue bonds and seek federal money, Schatz said.
Philip Bossert, chief executive for the High Tech Development Corp., which would be merged with six other agencies under the Schatz bill, acknowledged there could be better cooperation between DBEDT's various agencies.
"I'm just not sure of the best way to do it," he said.
House Majority Leader Scott Saiki, D-22nd (McCully, Pawa'a), agreed with Schatz that Lingle's ideas for DBEDT did not go far enough.
"I'm not sure how substantial they were in terms of changing the focus and scope of the department," he said.
Those in charge of the agencies affected by restructuring proposals had mixed feelings.
Rex Johnson, the Hawai'i Tourism Authority's executive director, said he was disappointed that Lingle isn't planning to detach the authority from DBEDT.
"We still feel like autonomy is the best way for us to operate," he said. "I'm going to have to chat with (Lingle) and see what her concerns were, and hopefully we can address them."
Jan Yokota, executive director of the Hawai'i Community Development Authority, said the department's current structure doesn't interfere with efforts to develop Kaka'ako.
"From our perspective (the current structure) works quite well," Yokota said. "That's not to say we're not open to new ideas."
