Diane: What is DBEDT doing specifically to improve the dismal tourism outlook/ revenue? Is there a plan in place to handle future downturns more effectively, or are we learning something from all of this?

Ted Liu: First of all, we are aggressively marketing tourism on the U.S. Mainland, especially in our traditional target markets such as the West Coast. We have seen an increase in travel as a result.

We are working with our private business partners who are doing their best to compete in a price-conscious environment through offering better products and value.

DBEDT is developing new markets, such as (South) Korea and China, and hopefully, in the near future, we will be able to make an announcement with results of our efforts to attract visitors from these markets.

This is not a normal cyclical downturn. We all believe we will emerge from this crisis stronger as we have the strongest brand name in the business.

Spencer: What do you see as the economic effect of the Hawaii Superferry pulling out of Hawai'i? How much of an impact does this have on the local economy?

Liu: First, this is not a good sign regarding doing business in Hawai'i.

More important to me, Superferry provided an alternative transportation mode for many of Hawai'i's small businesses. We saw much more flow of products among our islands and started to have a larger market for Hawai'i's producers. Hawai'i's products need to be competitive vs. imports, and Superferry helped with that. I hope that SuperFerry is able to return to serve our markets.

Kyle: What is DBEDT's role in the energy plan? It seems very long term; what are the short-term benefits? How will this specifically involve any stimulus money?

Liu: Energy is both a long-term and short-term issue for our economy, as Hawai'i is the most foreign-oil-dependent state in the U.S., with 90 percent of our energy generated from fossil fuels. These two horizons are linked. What we do longer-term impacts our businesses and residents today.

The state's energy goals for both the short-term and the longer-term is to achieve stable and lower energy costs, energy security, climate and economic benefits, and independence from imported fossil fuels by accelerating the use and development of Hawai'i's indigenous renewable energy and energy efficiency resources.

Wind, sun, geothermal, ocean and wave and biofuel resources are free and certainly cheaper than oil.

A clean-energy economy will enable Hawai'i to keep at home a portion of the up to $7 billion a year we spend on importing foreign oil. That is billions of dollars each and every year flowing out and creating no value in our economy. Displacing oil with renewable energy will enable us to keep the money saved each year circulating in our economy creating businesses and jobs.

BruceW: Why is the state trying to dismantle your department? And if they do, who will be in charge of the state economic development?

Liu: We were very surprised when this issue first came out. I have spent the last two weeks speaking with legislators to understand the intent behind these bills. I do not believe there has been an articulation of the reasons for moving programs and there is little or no budget savings.

One conclusion I have reached is that we need to provide better information on what economic development does, especially in the context of the current economic crisis. I have committed to communicate better in this regard.

This is not the right time to undertake a major restructuring of the state's economic development function. The proposed program transfers will take necessary focus away from addressing the state's current economic crisis without offsetting benefits.

The proposed transfers come at a time when DBEDT's programs are focused on meeting the state's short-term economic crisis. Not only would they take focus away from the critical task of stabilizing and growing the economy, it would also be disruptive and costly.

Driven by the national and global financial crisis, Hawai'i's economy has experienced its severest decline in decades, negatively impacting workers, households and businesses. All of DBEDT's programs are focused on stabilizing the Hawai'i economy and forming the basis for an economic recovery. DBEDT is playing a critical role in the local $1.8 billion CIP stimulus package and in obtaining as much funding as possible from the $800 billion federal stimulus package.

The proposed transfers will shift focus and attention away from these economic stabilization and stimulus activities at a critical time in these economic stabilization and recovery efforts.

Ken: Will your department be receiving any of the stimulus package to oversee, and if so, approximately how much are you going to get, and how are you going to use it?

Liu: On Feb. 17 of this year President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the federal stimulus package, to stimulate the U.S. economy by providing close to $787 billion of spending.

ARRA targeted a number of sectors, ranging from education and social services to defense and research and development. Besides supporting traditional infrastructure investment (such as highways), there is a significant focus on energy or "green" infrastructure.

Under ARRA, Hawai'i could obtain up to $2 billion of benefits with between $600 million to $800 million in federal spending. Hawai'i will also be able to compete for additional ARRA funds through competitive grants. Obviously, how much we obtain will depend on how well organized we are, how responsive we are to the stated objectives of the stimulus package and how we track and report on how the funds are spent and the results achieved.

DBEDT represented Hawai'i at several ARRA coordinators meetings in Washington, D.C., presided over by Vice President Biden and addressed by President Obama. We participate in regular conference calls with organizations such as the National Governors Association to discuss ARRA developments, including ARRA's almost daily promulgation of rules and solicitations.

We share and report information and intelligence gathered from these sources with other state departments and agencies and with private sector groups interested in seeking funding. As many of these funding streams are competitive, this information helps Hawai'i develop competitive proposals.

Finally, DBEDT is tasked with tracking and reporting on the results and impact of the spending. Two areas we are directly involved with: