Financial data to be private 1 more year

The majority of the approximately 150 members serving on various state boards and commissions affected by the state’s new financial disclosure law will not have their information made public until next year.

The law, which took effect July 8, adds members of 15 powerful state boards and commissions to the list of public officials whose annual financial disclosure statements are public records. Gov. Neil Abercrombie allowed Senate Bill 2682 to become law as Act 230 without his signature.

The state Ethics Commission, which uses the disclosures to identify conflicts of interest, discussed at length Wednesday whether it can apply the law retroactively to disclose statements already on file.

Members of the 15 boards and commissions named in the law are required to file annual financial disclosures with the Ethics Commission, but they previously were kept confidential.

The affected boards include the Ethics Commission, University of Hawaii Board of Regents, Board of Land and Natural Resources, Public Utilities Commission, Hawaii Community Development Authority and Land Use Commission.

The financial forms ask public executives and officers to disclose such financial information as income, investments, ownership or interests in businesses, and real estate holdings for themselves, their spouses and dependent children.

The state House and Senate unanimously approved the bill with a stated goal of increasing transparency and public confidence in government operations.

The Ethics Commission decided Wednesday that only disclosures filed on or after July 8 will be made public and posted online.

"Those who have filed previous to that date will not be public until they file again … in 2015," Ethics Commission Chairman Edward Broglio said.

The forms have to be filed annually by May 31 for sitting board members, or within 30 days of an appointment for new members.

"The law, which I certainly wholeheartedly support, did not have in it that this should be applied retroactively," Ethics Commission member Ruth Tschumy said. "And so we had people from boards and commissions filing their financial disclosure statements under the expectation that they would not be accessible publicly. Is it fair to apply Act 230 retroactively when that is not part of the legislation?"

Broglio said the commission received legal advice from the Attorney General’s Office during an hourlong executive session.

"You mentioned fair," he told Tschumy, "and I think we need to stick with legal, according to the information provided to us."

Tschumy said she would ask that her financial disclosure form be made public now. "To me, that seems important, for us to lead the way on that," she said.

The measure initially was on the governor’s potential veto list amid pushback from various gubernatorial appointees who would be affected by the measure.

Privacy concerns have so far prompted more than two dozen resignations from the affected boards. As of this week, 26 volunteer members have resigned from boards that include the UH Board of Regents, Land Use Commission, Board of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Hawaiian Homes Commission, and Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority.

The law’s ambiguity led Ethics Commission Executive Director Les Kondo to initially interpret it as requiring disclosure of statements on file for the year.

He said a July 2 memo went out to affected members alerting them that, "Come July 8, the date the law became effective, if you’re a member of the board, your 2014 financial disclosure statement was going to be available to the public."

But complaints from some of the affected board members about a lack of advance notice stalled the move. In response, Kondo said a state deputy attorney general informed him that his retroactive application of the statute was inappropriate.

He declined to share any legal opinions, citing attorney-client privilege.