Honolulu, Hawaiʻi – The next House Select Committee on COVID-19 Economic and Financial Preparedness briefing will cover business projections to reopen the economy, guidelines and protocols for the retail and restaurant industries, housing needs looking forward, and an update on unemployment insurance at 10 a.m. Monday, May 11.
The agenda includes an update on the State’s economic outlook, business projections and next steps by Dr. Carl Bonham, Executive Director of University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization (UHERO).
Hawaiʻi Medical Service Association President & CEO Dr. Mark Mugiishi, Alan Oshima, who is heading Governor David Ige’s Hawaiʻi Economic and Community Recovery & Resiliency Plan, and Major General Kenneth Hara, Director of the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency (HiEMA) will give a presentation on reopening Hawaiʻi’s economy. The consensus is that the prerequisite for the State to incrementally reopen before a vaccine exists is infrastructure to test, screen, monitor and quarantine.
Lisa Maruyama, President and CEO of the Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations, Representative Linda Ichiyama will lead a presentation on child care; and James Koshiba, co-founder of the volunteer homeless support group Hui Aloha will lead a discussion on housing.
To comply with restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the briefing will be held remotely via public television and streaming online. No public testimony will be accepted.
The briefing will be televised live on ‘Olelo channel 49 and will be aired live on the neighbor islands. The briefing can also be watched live online at https://olelo.org/ or on the House webcast page http://olelo.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=31.
For more information about the committee and to see related documents go to https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/specialcommittee.aspx?comm=cov&year=2020.