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Senate committee OKs change to HTA CEO retirement exemption after budget questions
Summary
The joint Senate committees passed an amendment to Senate Bill 1536 to modify retirement-benefit treatment for the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s chief executive, after questions about salary, benefits cost and how the board reached the proposal.
The joint Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tourism and the Senate Committee on Labor and Technology voted Thursday to pass Senate Bill 1536 with amendments and defer the effective date to July 1, 2050. The bill addresses retirement-benefit status for the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA) president and chief executive.
Supporters at the hearing said the measure would allow the HTA board to offer the CEO a benefit package different from standard state retirement. Daniel, identified at the hearing as the interim president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said the position is budgeted in HTA’s fiscal 2025 plan at $300,000 and that benefits are typically calculated at about 60 percent of salary. “Our usual calculation is 60% of the salary,” Daniel said, adding that the final salary would be set by the CEO search committee and the HTA board.
Committee members questioned whether the exemption would reduce costs and whether alternative retirement arrangements were considered. Senator Kim asked why the CEO had been treated differently from other exempt HTA staff, and whether HTA board members had proposed alternate options such as a portable 401(k). Daniel said the search committee and board discussed multiple options but that staff were not privy to the search committee’s closed deliberations.
Committee members also debated transparency: HTA staff told senators that the legislative policy interest group (legislative PIG) of the HTA board had vetted the draft legislation and that the full board had not necessarily taken a formal vote on the bill at the time of testimony. One senator recommended deferring the measure until the full board’s position was clear.
After discussion the committees adopted the chair’s recommendation to pass SB 1536 with SD 1 and the amended effective date.
The bill will proceed to the next committee with the committees’ recommended changes and the deferred effective date noted in the committee report.
