Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 8, 1 August 2011 — State can do more for local small businesses [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

State can do more for local small businesses

/ A no'ai kakou ... Times are * t\ tough for Hawaii small businesses. The Honolulu S t a r - ! \Advertiser

reported (6/8/1 1) that we had "one of the nation's poorest-performing economies last year, registering growth of just 1.2 percent," whieh was the "44th lowest out of the 50 states and was well helow the nahonal average." To add insult to injury, the state was forced to increase taxes at the

worst possible time. In July, the vehicle registration fee increased by $20 to $45. The weight tax increased a penny to 1.75 cents per pound for vehicles up to 4,000 pounds. The rental car surcharge increased to $7.50 a day from $2 a day until June 30, 2012, when it goes down to $3 a day. Matson Navigation also imposed a $52 charge on all incoming cargo to help recover costs related to paying the general excise tax. (Star-Advertiser, 6/26/11) So what ean the state do? I have two quick suggestions: INCREASEAPEC OPPORTUNITIES Our elected leaders should insist that more is done to allow loeal small businesses to have a crack at the Asia-Pacific Eeonomie Cooperation's (APEC) service contracts. The APEC meeting of trade and foreign ministers from 21 Paeihe Rim countries will take plaee here in Honolulu from Nov. 7-13 and is expected to attract 20,000 attendees, including 2,000 journalists. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will also be in attendance. The APEC Hawaii Host Committee has estimated that the conference will generate about $131 million in spending in Hawaii, but how mueh of that money will trickle down to Hawaii's small businesses? So far, it seems like the only real winners are the big hightech companies that are providing technical or eommunieahon services

and the Waikiki hotels providing the approximately 120,000 rooms that are needed. Surely our elected officials ean ask that APEC open up

more service opportunities for our small businesses. After all, various government agencies have collectively given tens of millions of dollars to APEC, including OHA. STOP AIRLINE SEAT LOSSES According to the Star-Advertiser (6/3/11), our state will lose 188 airline seats in September after American Airlines recently decided to drop its only direct daily flight

between San Erancisco and Honolulu. I believe that high-traffic flights to major cities on the West Coast are an important part of Hawaii's tourism-based economy and should be increased rather than eliminated. Although Hawaiian Airlines has said they will help to meet the demand by adding 30 seats beginning in November 2011, as a frequent business traveler, I ean attest to the fact that the San Francisco flights are always packed to capacity. A 30-seat addition by Hawaiian Airlines will not be enough to meet the demand. In fact, the American Airlines decision seems to only be focused on their plans to retire older, less fuel-efficient planes and not on whether there is a market for this flight. Our economy cannot withstand any further erosion of our tourism market. We must fight the loss of these seats. Losing this daily flight will result in a reduction of jobs for American Airlines employees and other related jobs in the tourism industry and will also cause further losses in state tax revenue at the worst possible time. If you agree with me, please write or email your elected leaders to do more for small businesses during the APEC meetings. Aloha Ke Akua. ■ Interested in Hawaiian issues and OHA ? PIease visit my web site at www. rowenaakana.org for more information or email me at rowenaa@oha.org.

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