Senate halts effort to restore dedicated tourism funding

Senate halts effort to restore dedicated tourism funding

After years of legislative skepticism and repeated restructuring, the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority appeared poised this session for a partial restoration of its dedicated funding — until the effort stalled in the state Senate. House Bill 1950, introduced by Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki), chair of the House Committee on Tourism, would have directed a portion of the state’s transient accommodations tax back to tourism marketing and destination managem…