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House and Senate leaders will ask the state Attorney General’s Office for an opinion on whether the state ethics director is correct in defining members of legislative task forces as state employees restricted from lobbying.
State Senate President Shan Tsutsui (D, Wailuku-Kahului) and state House Speaker Calvin Say (D, St. Louis Heights-Wilhelmina Rise-Palolo Valley) made the decision after meeting privately on Monday to discuss concerns from several lawmakers about the ethics director’s interpretation.
Several senators have said the interpretation could influence their ability to recruit industry experts to serve as volunteers on task forces and working groups.
Leslie Kondo, executive director of the state Ethics Commission, has advised that members of task forces are state employees for purposes of the ethics code while they are serving and should not lobby the Legislature for pay on task-force related matters.
Members of a task force who serve longer than six months, Kondo has said, are also prohibited from lobbying the Legislature for pay for one year after the work of their task force ends, under the ethics code’s post-employment restrictions.
Kondo told the Ethics Commission on Wednesday that he stands by his interpretation of the law. He also said he believes his guidance applies only to a small group of lobbyists and has been blown out of proportion.
"In my view, it seems like it’s snowballed way more than it’s worth," he said. "It’s become a bigger issue than I think it really is. I think it affects a very small number of people, frankly."
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