STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2566

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    GOV. MSG. NOS. 534, 535

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Tourism and International Affairs, to which was referred Governor's Message Nos. 534 and 535, submitting for study and consideration the nomination of:

 

Board of Directors of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority

 

G.M. No. 534

KUUIPO KUMUKAHI,

for a term to expire 06-30-2016.; and

 

G.M. No. 535

KUUIPO KUMUKAHI,

for a term to expire 06-30-2020,

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     Your Committee has reviewed the statements and experiences that were submitted and explained to your Committee by the nominee and find that Kuuipo Kumukahi possesses the requisite qualifications to be nominated for appointment and reappointment to the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of Kuuipo Kumukahi from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Pacific Links International Hawaii Division, Tropical Music Inc., Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame, Pearl Harbor Hawaiian Civic Club, Tidal Wave Entertainment, and thirteen individuals.  Your Committee received comments on the nominee from one individual.

 

     Kuuipo Kumukahi is a self-taught musician of Hawaiian music and song.  Her family is deeply rooted in Hawaiian traditions, knowledge, and values.  Ms. Kumukahi is known throughout Hawaii and the continental United States and abroad as the "the Sweetheart of Hawaiian music."  She has dedicated her life to producing, preserving, perpetuating, and promoting quality in Hawaiian music as well as the performance of the music of Hawaii in the Hawaiian language.

 

     Ms. Kumukahi served as President of the Hawaii Academy of Recording Artists.  She is a Co-founder and past President of the Na Lani Eha Hawaiian Civic Club.  Besides being a student and performer of Hawaiian music, Ms. Kumukahi conducts lectures for administrators in the Department of Education on topics such as the values of a Hawaiian family.  She also has served as a guest lecturer for the Kamehameha Schools focusing on the value of hoomakaukau, which is "to be prepared".

 

     According to testimony of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Ms. Kumukahi brings insight, intelligence, diplomacy, positivity, and energetic commitment to the Authority.  She understands the importance of infusing the aloha spirit into the Authority's responsibilities of promoting Hawaii as a premier visitor destination.  Her talents as an educator and as a cultural practitioner and advisor are invaluable to the mission of the Authority.  Her excellent organizational, management, and supervisory skills have served her well and make her an ideal candidate to serve on the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

 

     Your Committee takes particular note of Ms. Kumukahi's oral testimony that she sees the importance of integrating Hawaiian cultural values into Western thought.  For example, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is the first and last contact at airports that visitors have with Hawaii, disappointingly turned down an offer from the Hawaii Tourism Authority to instruct TSA personnel on Hawaiian culture.  In other words, marketing of Hawaiian culture needs to be more than commercials and advertising - it needs to be integrated on an international level into the fabric of cultural and social interaction between Hawaii and the world.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Tourism and International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominee, has found the nominee to be qualified for the position to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nomination.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Tourism and International Affairs,

 

 

 

____________________________

J. KALANI ENGLISH, Majority Leader