2025-12-15 Liquor Commission Minutes Hilo (Special Meeting)

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Okabe: No. 9, as Director of the Department of Liquor Control, it would be important to stay current in changes in government oversight, the industry and the marketplace. What actions would you take to stay informed and involved, and what role does the Commission have in the scheme of things? Frendo: I would stay informed of course and through that, I would establish maintaining regular channels of communication with industry stakeholders, attend relevant conferences and review legislative updates regularly. I would also ensure that our Department has a proactive approach for monitoring trends in the marketplace, certain trends that are taking place whether it be liquor or liquor related, or different things coming into the liquor industry. The Commission itself leads the Department in a proactive approach in monitoring the trends in the marketplace, a key role in the oversight of the Department of Liquor Control policies. I would ensure that we work proactively with the Commission and implement effective regulations. Okabe: No. 10, as while we are called the Department of Liquor Control, the scope of our enforcement is possibly expanding to include matters such as tobacco, marijuana, and ensuring tax and regulatory compliance. Do you feel that expansion in this scope is appropriate or inappropriate, and why? Frendo: Okay, it kind of ties into the previous question there, expanding our scope of the Department involved would be tobacco, marijuana, and tax regulation compliance is appropriate because it's aligning with the changes in public health, and we're all about public health and safety, in fact our mission statement. However, because of the limited ties of our Department, it would be necessary to assess the Department's abilities to take on those responsibilities. We would have to, there would have to be something set up to give us so that we could set a road map so we could get something in place, that okay we just can't jump into regulation of tobacco tax and marijuana at the staff level we have or our capacity as far as the administrative side. But we would have to you know, get something, a clear directive from them, from the regulatory agencies as far as what they're expecting. Okabe: Okay, No. 11, what kind of programs would you implement, perpetuate and/or expand upon to assist in fostering programs to address underage drinking prevention and overservice prevention? Frendo: Right now, we do have some programs in place, I'd like to expand on those again, making it more public or making it more noticeable on what the Department is actually doing, yeah. I know every once in a while you see public ads come out for public stay safe spots that come out on media that say you know, the four County's Police Departments, or the four Liquor Control's, or something like that, and work like a partnership almost like the Police Department has with the local schools. I'm not saying we're going to put in representing the schools like they have a school safety officer or something like that, but something where there's a resource that we can address the schools every once in a while, address the schools where we can go in and do the programs or talks or you know, training programs. MINUTES - LIQUOR COMMISSION MEETING SPECIAL MEETING - MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2025 - HILO PAGE 27 OF 35