Under a new law signed by Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) will be granted the right to hold executive sessions in private on matters that are "competitively sensitive" or "proprietary," the Pacific Business News reports. The HTA's meetings were originally allowed behind closed doors when the tourism entity was addressing specific matters pertaining to personnel, commercial or proprietary information, and anything could leave HTA contractors and other business interests vulnerable.
According to the Pacific Business News, HTA has, in recent years, held private sessions for general topics such as taxpayer dollars will be spent to promote tourism to the state. With the new law, HTA can discus, in secrecy, strategies the entity feels could be used against it if rival destinations were to obtain such information.