The state legislators in charge of tourism praised the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, but cried foul on HTA when it learned that the agency now expects to pick up the tab for the team’s welcome reception, estimated to cost from $80,000 to $100,000.
Lawmakers brought to light the issues with HTA’s Rams contract during an informational briefing called by Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki), chair of the House Committee on Tourism, and Sen. Lynn DeCoite (D, East Maui-Upcountry-Molokai-Lanai-Kahoolawe), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Economic Development and Tourism.
Lawmakers also questioned HTA’s accountability and transparency, as well as the ability of Caroline Anderson, its current interim president and CEO, to lead an agency dealing with significant staffing shortages and problems from allegations of a toxic work environment to inappropriate freebies, procurement violations and late payments to contractors. Named and unnamed HTA officials have even been sued by Isaac Choy, HTA vice president of finance and acting chief administrative officer, who was put on unpaid leave May 9 at the direction of the state attorney general and the Department of Human Resources amid allegations he made racist and sexist remarks on the job.
Sen. Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moanalua-Halawa) highlighted HTA’s latest issue when she asked Anderson if HTA had incurred any expenses for the Rams outside of its expected contract expenses.
HTA had contracted
with the Rams to pay
$1.5 million, and another $300,000 if the Rams make the playoffs, to promote tourism in Maui and Hawaii. But Anderson told Kim that it is possible that HTA might have to pay an additional fee to cover the Rams’ welcome reception as “there seems to be some language in the contract which is not clear about what the Rams are paying for and what HTA is
paying for.”
James Kunane Tokioka, state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism director, opined to lawmakers that the state will have to cover most of the reception at
the Wailea Beach Resort-
Marriott, Maui, which he estimated will cost $80,000 to $100,000.
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Tokioka told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “Why would the Rams’ contract say they are committed to $5,000? They know that a luau is going to cost more than $5,000 so in their mind the state was paying for it.”
Lawmakers grilled Anderson, Tokioka and Todd Apo, HTA board chair, on the emerging issues with the latest Rams contract, which they noted was part of a broader pattern of concerns related to accountability, transparency, and effectiveness.
Kim was incredulous that Apo said the board had approved the Rams program, but not the contract in detail.
DeCoite said HTA needed an attorney, and said the current process, is “like me giving my business to my granddaughter and saying, ‘Hey just go run wild with the checkbook.’”
Tokioka told the Star-Advertiser that he sent an email to the Attorney General’s Office for guidance, but that he thinks “somebody made a commitment that they shouldn’t have made and that put a cloud over the Rams’ visit. But it shouldn’t because what they did was incredible. The community embraced them and they embraced the community.”
Tokioka said the contract was negotiated by former HTA Chief Stewardship Officer Kalani Ka‘ana‘ana, whose resignation from HTA was effective May 2, and by HTA board member Mufi Hannemann, who was HTA board chair at the time.
“They said Mufi told them that the state was going to pay for the reception,” he said.
Hannemann was not present at the briefing but told the Star-Advertiser that he “did not authorize to pay for the reception,” and that Tokioka is misrepresenting facts.
“It was my expectation that the deal would cover the reception,” Hannemann said, adding that he had heard that Ka‘ana‘ana was putting in a contingency in the budget.
While Tokioka and Hanne-mann disagree on what happened with the most recent Rams contract, they both supported the current partnership and are interested in future partnerships.
Hannemann said that the latest partnership with the Rams as well as the reception brought undeniable
returns.
As part of HTA’s partnership with the Rams, Mauicamp started on June 16
and ended Thursday. On June 17-18, the Rams also hosted on-field team activities that featured players in workout gear at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku.
“As many as 457 people came to Maui including the players, VIPs, the staff and their premium fan base. Everyplace we went people were circulating and spending money,” Hannemann said. “It reinforced the message that Maui is open for business and it welcomes people back. This deal was driven by HTA. The tourism industry shined on behalf of the people of Maui and the state’s economy. The governor and the mayor supported us doing this deal — that’s why this is a head scratcher. “
HTA also will serve as the presenting sponsor of a Rams 2025 home game at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, and as the presenting sponsor of the Rams’ offseason content on therams.com and social channels, including in-depth coverage of the team’s visit to Maui.
Tokioka said he was not a part of earlier contract negotiations with the Rams. But he said that he is pursuing a new partnership with the Rams that would allow the University of Hawaii to play UCLA at SoFi Stadium. He said UCLA was supposed to come to Hawaii to play, but that the university currently doesn’t have a stadium available.
Tokioka said there are still details to work out, but if the partnership prevails, the University of Hawaii would play UCLA on Sept. 18, 2027, at SoFi Stadium as a home game for Hawaii.
“There’s a desire with the Rams to do more with the state of Hawaii than is currently on the table,” he said. “By 2026, we should know if we’ll get to play in SoFi or not. UCLA has never played in SoFi and never has UH. SoFi Stadium is the premier stadium in the NFL right now.”
During the briefing, which lasted about six hours, several lawmakers expressed concern that HTA was even necessary given that Senate Bill 1571, which was signed into law May 29, has downgraded the HTA board to an advisory role, and DBEDT now has oversight of most of the board’s previous
functions.
Sen. Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi-Salt Lake-Pearl Harbor) discussed the possibility of bifurcating HTA’s marketing and destination stewardship between two state agencies.
DeCoite suggested folding HTA into DBEDT.
Tam said he has begun working on drafting a bill to implement all of the recommendations in a third-party governance study released last July by Better Destinations LLC, founded by Cathy Ritter. The study, which cost nearly $300,000, recommended that a private,
independent, nonprofit Destination Stewardship Organization (referred to as a DSO) replace HTA, which was created by the state Legislature more than a quarter of a century ago.
Tam said he was baffled that the study was not presented to lawmakers at the beginning of this year’s session so that they could have had public hearings to discuss the findings.
“The first thing in the governance study was that you guys pretty much needed to be replaced. You didn’t like what it says so you guys are just kicking the can down the road … until people forget about it. That’s just appalling,” Tam said.