The Audible Audit

State of Hawaii - Office of the Auditor
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The Office of the Auditor provides reports to the Legislature and the public about state agency performance.  Our audits help to provide transparency about government programs and hold government accountable by assessing how effectively state agencies are delivering services and using public money. The Audible Audit is an AI-generated summary of the office’s reports intended for public informational and educational purposes only.  While the podcast content may be computer generated, the discussions are solely based on the office’s reports, which are produced without the aid of AI.  In addition, the podcast is carefully reviewed by staff to ensure that the information is consistent with what is presented in the reports. For the full report for detailed and authoritative information about the audit go to: auditor.hawaii.gov.

Episodes

  1. OCT 21

    Report No. 25-07, Audit of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority

    An AI generated and office reviewed report summary. Report No. 25-07  Audit of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority  In 2020, as it entered its third decade, the Hawai‘i Tourism concluded that it needed a change.  Its continuous drive to increase visitor numbers had taken a toll on Hawai‘i’s people and their natural environment. What was needed was a “re-balancing” of priorities, and for that reason, “destination management” would be the Authority’s focus and at the heart of the new strategic plan. In its 2020 – 2025 Strategic Plan, HTA defined destination management as: “attracting and educating responsible visitors; advocating for solutions to overcrowded attractions, overtaxed infrastructure, and other tourism-related problems; and working with other responsible agencies to improve natural and cultural assets valued by both Hawai‘i residents and visitors.”  As part of this emphasis on destination management, HTA developed three-year Destination Management Action Plans for six islands. Actions and sub-actions vary in the individual DMAPs, such as protecting and preserving culturally significant places and tourist “hotspots”; as well as increasing communication, engagement, and outreach efforts with the community among other initiatives. In Report No. 25-07, Audit of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, we assessed HTA’s achievement of its 2016 and 2020 – 2025 strategic plans’ destination management goals. We also evaluated the effectiveness of the agency’s DMAPs.  Learn how: HTA’s new emphasis on destination management is not materially different from its prior efforts; largely a reshuffling of past and continuing programs. The effort doesn’t seem to have involved any increased financial commitment; overall spending on destination management efforts remained generally level.The Authority’s DMAP effort was largely ineffective, with most actions not addressing hotspots, predated the effort, or had already completed.Many DMAP actions were impractical or unrelated to destinations and their management. Thanks for listening. You can find this and other reports at: auditor.hawaii.gov

    6 min

  2. AUG 13

    Report No. 25-09, An Update on the Department of Education’s Heat Abatement Efforts

    An AI generated and office reviewed report summary. In January 2016, Governor David Ige announced in his State of the State speech that he was working to cool 1,000 classrooms by the end of the year.  That May, the Hawai‘i Legislature approved $100 million in general funds to cool 1,000 public school classrooms by the end of that calendar year.  The department’s plan would later be referred to as the “Cool Classrooms Initiative.”  Three years later, the State’s heat abatement efforts changed course with the Department of Education’s (DOE) introduction of its School Directed AC program, which unlike the Cool Classrooms Initiative, gave schools the authority to air condition classrooms themselves, with minimal DOE involvement.   Report No. 25-09, An Update on the Department of Education’s Heat Abatement Efforts is an extensive review and assessment of the legislative and funding history of this initiative to account for the $100 million.  We also reviewed DOE’s subsequent heat abatement effort, the School Directed AC program.   Learn how: ·       The Cool Classrooms Initiative’s rushed planning and poor decisions early on contributed to DOE moving forward with expensive and complex solar-powered air conditioning systems that ultimately didn’t work very well. ·       DOE was unable to provide an accounting of the $100 million, requiring the Office to estimate the amount spent through contract documents and other records, some of which were incomplete and missing.  ·       The Office was able to estimate that the Cool Classrooms Initiative cooled 838 classrooms at a cost of about $105 million, an average of more than $120,000 per classroom. ·       DOE provided minimal structure and oversight over its School Directed AC program, which followed the Cool Classrooms Initiative.  The department’s knowledge of and involvement in the program to be so incomplete and limited that the Office was unable to assess it. Read the full report here: https://files.hawaii.gov/auditor/Reports/2025/25-09.pdf Report summary: https://files.hawaii.gov/auditor/Overviews/2025/25-09AuditorSummary.pdf Thanks for listening. You can find this and other reports at: auditor.hawaii.gov

    7 min
  • 2 Episodes

About

The Office of the Auditor provides reports to the Legislature and the public about state agency performance.  Our audits help to provide transparency about government programs and hold government accountable by assessing how effectively state agencies are delivering services and using public money. The Audible Audit is an AI-generated summary of the office’s reports intended for public informational and educational purposes only.  While the podcast content may be computer generated, the discussions are solely based on the office’s reports, which are produced without the aid of AI.  In addition, the podcast is carefully reviewed by staff to ensure that the information is consistent with what is presented in the reports. For the full report for detailed and authoritative information about the audit go to: auditor.hawaii.gov.

Information

  • Creator
    State of Hawaii - Office of the Auditor
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 State of Hawaii - Office of the Auditor
  • Show Website
    The Audible Audit