Hawaii, and its top tourism agency, is facing a make-it-work moment in funding its operations for the near term. Again.

As it did last year, a lot of that fiscal scrambling is going to fall initially on the governor. At the close of the first legislative session of his tenure as chief executive, Gov. Josh Green will need to assess whether the Hawaii Tourism Authority can muddle through with alternative funds, lacking the $60 million it had sought.

The reason: Lawmakers adjourned the 2023 session on Thursday without dismantling HTA as had been widely discussed; legislation to accomplish that, House Bill 1375, stalled in conference committee. But offsetting HTA’s sense of relief, legislation was deferred without operational funds being inserted in the budget.

In HTA’s place, legislators had proposed standing up a new agency focused more directly on the mission of “destination management” — addressing the impacts of tourism on natural and cultural resources.

It’s a mission that HTA already has embraced, at least in theory, identifying the mission as one of its defining “four pillars.” In practice, the agency’s wrangling over contracts to handle destination management and marketing was disconcerting.

That does underscore the need for HTA and its CEO, John De Fries, to promptly make progress on management, and prove to lawmakers that it’s competent to execute state policy on Hawaii’s primary economic engine.

De Fries is acutely aware of the imperative, sounding alarm bells about the plan to shutter HTA putting existing grants and programs in peril. Last week the agency put out a call for proposals in its Community Enrichment and Signature Events programs. Applications are due May 22 (information is at hvcb.org/cep).

These grants, he said, are aimed at projects that encourage tourism in niche areas such as agriculture, culture, education and nature.

Steering tourism is the shared responsibility of the state, which sets the overall vision for the industry, and the industry leaders themselves, who are a critical part of raising Hawaii’s profile in the global marketplace.

HTA’s recent initiatives do mark a good starting point, but the agency will have a lot to prove. In essence, it’s being compelled to earn back a more stable place in the state’s operating budget.

HB 1375 may have been deferred, but unless HTA has a very successful 2023, it easily could rise again next session.