Lawmakers achieve mixed results on ethics and election reform

Hawaii’s 2019 legislative session was set to be a banner year when it came to ushering in campaign finance and election reforms and limiting the influence of money in politics — at least to hear leaders of the House tell it.

Midway through this year’s session, leaders including House Speaker Scott Saiki, House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke and House Judiciary Chairman Chris Lee convened a press conference to tout more than a dozen “good government” bills they had just passed out of their chamber and sent over to the Senate for deliberation.

“I think it is time we restore trust in public government and in what is possible here in the state to make sure people know their elected officials are accountable only to them and that the decisions being made in this state are on behalf of the people of Hawaii,” said Lee (D, Kailua-Lanikai-­Waimanalo) during the March 6 press conference.

In a follow-up press release, he said the bills represented the “most significant reforms in Hawaii’s elections and ethics laws in a generation.”

Saiki (D-Downtown-Kakaako-McCully) echoed those sentiments.

“My feeling is that there is mutual agreement between the House and Senate to move some of these major topics,” he said.

In addition to the suite of House bills, the Senate introduced its own measures aimed at reforming government.

Some, including changes to the election system, were successes. The Legislature passed a bill to implement all mail-in voting beginning in 2020, which advocates hope will boost Hawaii’s dismal voter turnout. Lawmakers also passed a bill that would require automatic recounts in elections with razor-thin margins between candidates.

But when it came to the long list of bills targeting money in politics, conflicts of interest and other government reforms, almost all of the bills died.

For example, both the Senate and House introduced bills that would have banned lawmakers from holding campaign fundraisers during the legislative session, which runs from mid-January into the first week of May. The Senate version of the bill went even further, prohibiting legislators from accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists, private companies and nonprofits during session.

Critics have long said the practice amounts to, or at least gives the appearance of, “pay to play.”

Neither of the bills received a single hearing. Meanwhile, lawmakers liberally scheduled fundraisers throughout this year’s session — more than 60, according to the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission, which sends out a tweet whenever a lawmaker files the paperwork.

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Michelle Kidani, chairwoman of the Education Committee, both scheduled fundraisers on April 18 at The Hokua, a luxury condo complex on Ala Moana Boulevard where the suggested campaign contribution was $500, $1,000 or $1,500. Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English scheduled a March 21 fundraiser at Ducs Bistro in downtown Honolulu where the suggested contribution was between $250 to $4,000.

The next deadline for filing campaign spending reports isn’t until July 31. That means the public won’t know who donated to state legislators during the just-completed session, whether at a fundraiser or otherwise, until three months after lawmakers have gone home.

Other bills aimed at getting money out of politics included a measure that would have created a comprehensive public funding program for candidates for county elections beginning in 2022. “With the influence of dark money on political campaigns, the role of public financing becomes more crucial than ever,” according to the bill.

Another bill would have significantly increased fines for certain campaign finance violations.

Both of those bills passed the House but never got a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

One bill that did pass, Senate Bill 138, requires campaign spending reports to be filed on two additional dates during a general election year. The measure aims to increase transparency about campaign contributions before absentee ballots are mailed out.

A slew of other bills that attempted to address conflicts of interest in government and politics also failed. This included a bill that would have toughened lobbying laws, including banning behind-the-scenes lobbying activities and expanding the “cooling-off period” before former legislators and top government officials could serve as lobbyists from one to two years. Another bill would have prohibited the governor and county mayors from having other jobs or earning outside compensation while in office.

Other dead measures include a bill that would have expanded the list of government officials who needed to file a financial disclosure statement with the State Ethics Office and a bill that would have enacted state laws mirroring the federal Hatch Act, which restricts certain government employees from participating in partisan activities.

Senate President Ron Kouchi (D, Kauai-Niihau) declined to comment for this story and Saiki, the House speaker, didn’t respond to questions.

However, Lee was positive about the outcome of the bills as a whole.

“There are definitely a lot more bills that I would have loved to have seen move this year, but it was clear that we needed more time to figure out how to make them legally and logistically work,” he said.

“I think we have the intent to return next year to pick up where we left off. The wins we had this year overall were more than anyone could have predicted before the start of session.”