Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s community program applicants are in limbo because the agency’s budget was not approved in time to meet the award schedule and the delay is bumping up against the program’s fiscal-year start.
HTA’s ‘Umeke program, which supports community organizations that foster regenerative tourism, awarded nearly $3 million last year to 105 organizations, including large events like the Aloha Festivals, Merrie Monarch Festival, and the Honolulu Marathon, and many smaller one-time projects and events. The funds support grassroots programs, provide workforce development opportunities, and uplift the people and organizations that work to protect Hawaii’s natural and cultural resources. ‘Umeke also is supposed to promote the benefits of tourism to Hawaii residents, who are increasingly concerned of making sure that the negative impacts of tourism do not outweigh the community benefits.
This year’s ‘Umeke applicants were expecting to receive award notifications on June 5, but the HTA board failed to get its budget approved during its monthly meeting on May 28. Just a day later, Gov. Josh Green signed Senate Bill 1571, which changed HTA’s governance model, and downgraded its board to an advisory board. That change removes authority for HTA’s budget from its board and gives the authority to the state Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism.
Caroline Anderson, HTA interim president and CEO, said, “Some of the programs are starting in July, and so we tried our best (to get the budget approved). But the HTA board is advisory so they do not approve our budget anymore. They give us advice on it, but they are not approving our budget anymore.”
HTA board Chair Todd Apo acknowledged that
the uncertainty creates
operational and administrative difficulties for some ‘Umeke applicants since this year’s awards were put on a fiscal schedule to fund projects between July 2025 and June 2026.”
“We need to consider delaying the start dates next year so that we are not in this situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anderson said HTA has asked its destination stewardship contractor the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s (CNHA) Kilohana “to send letters to all of those who submitted proposals for the different ‘Umeke programs to let the applicants know that we are unable to send out the notice of the award because it’s pending approval of HTA’s budget.”
She said HTA staff are waiting for a budget update from DBEDT and for Green to approve the overall state budget, which contains HTA’s budget.
DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka is no longer a voting member of the HTA board as a result of the passage of SB 1571; however, the new legislation gives him control over HTA’s budget.
“I have 10 other agencies with boards and (the process) for all 10 of them is like that,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
But the new process introduces more uncertainty for HTA, whose board and Tokioka have been previously at odds over the
budget.
The HTA board approved seeking an $80 million
budget earlier this year,
but Tokioka, who at the time was a voting member of the HTA board himself, disregarded that recommendation and instead submitted a $70 million budget request
Ultimately, the Legislature opted not to increase HTA’s budget from the $63 million that it was awarded last year. Tokioka said the funding is level to last year, but the priorities may differ.
“There are definitely going to be some changes as to how programs will be getting funding now because some of the priorities will be a little bit different — although not very, very different,” he said. “So we’ll just have to see what the needs are of the agencies that have applied for the grants and who Kilohana is working with and we’ll take it from there.”
Tokioka said he will have to “ take a good look” at the ‘Umeke’s past $3 million allocation to determine if the funding levels will stay the same.
“Some applicants might not get funded because of the deliverables or nondeliverables that happened last year and I don’t know the answers to that yet,” he said.
Tokioka added that he has contacted Kilohana Chief Administrator Tyler Gomes to determine how many of the ‘Umeke applicants may need funds to align with a July 1 start so that DBEDT can prioritize the release of funds for those in that situation that are approved.
“I’m not totally worried about it because I don’t think there are a lot on July 1, but (Gomes) has to give me the list of projects that have budgetary needs that are urgent,” Tokioka said.
