Promoting A High-Tech Digital Industry

Everyone wants to live in Hawaii, but not everyone can work here. That is about to change. Imagine the West Oahu plain transformed into a film production and creative media center with businesses that produce high tech computer generated special effects for movies that are being made around the world. Then imagine a new film production studio and a thriving hotel and restaurant industry to support that trade.

At a business luncheon last year, I listened to producer Chris Lee (a good friend, but no relation) describe the future of Hawaii as a place where film students can pursue their passions for the visual arts at the UH West Oahu campus. Lee has served in various capacities in the motion picture, television and video industries, including president of production at TriStar Pictures and Columbia Pictures, where he oversaw Academy Award-winning films as Jerry Maguire, Philadelphia, and As Good As It Gets. He executive produced Superman Returns for Warner Brothers and Valkyrie for United Artists, and raised production funding for Batman Begins, Superman Returns, 300, and The Dark Knight.

An Iolani graduate, Lee believes that a digital-media development could bring hundreds of high paying, high quality jobs to West Oahu for those born and bred in Hawaii, including for video game production, computer animation and digital media. This is just part of Lee’s vision to transform West Oahu into the creative media hub of the Pacific Rim, and build an industry that is already creating thousands of new, high paying jobs in other such digital centers around the Pacific rim.

Following through on this vision is a priority I hope to push my colleagues to pursue next year. It is one of the few golden opportunities Hawaii has to diversify our economy, and we must take advantage of it while the timing is right.

High Tech Incentives

States traditionally offers tax credits to incentivize investment or development in certain fields. Hawaii has been the most generous state, giving out hundreds of millions of dollars in high-tech investment credits over the last ten years. However, while these funds have come under fire for being too broad, and lacking transparency, the funds have grown a significant investment in high tech research and development, renewable energy, and have helped bring numerous film shoots such as Pirates of the Carribean and Hawaii Five-O to the islands.

With these tax credits, many local and mainland investors poured tens of millions of dollars into our local economy, with the understanding that they would see a return and could collect their credits in due time. However, this year to save the state money, Senate Bill 2401 prohibited these investors from claiming their returns for an additional three years. I opposed this bill because if we are going to be serious about encouraging growth in any industry, private investors and businesses need certainty. The state cannot keep changing the rules mid-game and expect business to go unaffected.