A joint House committee essentially killed two bills aimed at restricting the independence of state Auditor Les Kondo and passed others on Wednesday that would clamp down on gifts to state legislators and better ensure government transparency as the state Capitol continues to reel after two former legislators pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal corruption charges.
Following guilty pleas by former Sen. J. Kalani English and Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen on corruption charges in federal court, a joint hearing of the House Committees on Government Reform and Legislative Management moved out House Bill 1475, which mandates ethics training for new employees within 90 days of employment.
And the committees kept alive bills designed to improve government transparency including:
>> HB 2069, which outlines how lawmakers and state employees report and deal with gifts from foreign officials, federal officers, or officials from other states.
Gifts accepted by legislators and state employees on behalf of the state or either house of the Legislature from visiting dignitaries is “not established under state law,” according to HB 2069.
A recipient would have to document each gift, identifying who sent it and and
providing related information and the gift’s location to the state Archives at the end of each fiscal year.
>> HB 1897, would require “all boards to livestream meetings and archive the recordings online.” Also, it would require boards to “identify each item on its meeting agenda as an item for action or an item for discussion, and allow for oral testimony after each agenda item.” Board meetings, minutes and board packets would have to be posted online.
At the same time, the committees deferred action on:
>> HB 1871, which would exempt legislators and state employees from bans in the state Code of Ethics from accepting “foreign protocol gifts, gifts of aloha, invitations to certain events,
and meals, under certain conditions.”
>> HB 1874, which would have allowed boards to “conduct up to one retreat in private per calendar year; provided that the board does not vote on any matter, make decisions, or deliberate toward a decision on any matter currently pending before the board or likely to arise before the board.”
Additionally, House Government Reform Chairman Angus McKelvey, (D, Lahaina-Kaanapali-Honokahau), announced that the two committees would defer HB 2419 and 2420, which would require the state Auditor to disclose confidential “working papers” to an investigative committee and require the auditor to “follow best auditing practices and standards,” respectively.
“Basically we don’t feel that the support is there to move these measures along at this time,” McKelvey said in killing the bills. “… We’re going to defer these measures indefinitely.”
The bills represented the third salvo in less than a year from House leadership aimed at what Kondo has called the Auditor’s Constitutionally assured independence.
In March Kondo received a scathing, 79-page review of his office that was prompted by House Speaker Scott Saiki, (D, Downtown-Kakaako-McCully).
Then on the last day of the 2021 legislative session, the House created a special Investigative Committee chaired by House Majority Leader Della Au Belatti, (D, Moiliili-Makiki-Tantalus), to look into findings and recommendations of two separate audits of mismanage-
ment of state land by the Agribusiness Development Corp. and DLNR’s Special Land and Development Fund.
The hearings, which
began in September, were quickly expanded to include an investigation of Kondo and his office. The committee issued a series of requests for the Auditor office’s “confidential working papers” that Kondo said were protected, in part, to allow people to speak candidly.
On Nov. 3, Circuit Court Judge Lisa Cataldo ordered Kondo to produce two documents that he had originally agreed to hand over to the House Investigative Committee, and granted his request to quash subpoenas for other documents.
Committee member Rep. Dale Kobayashi, (D, Manoa-Punahou-Moiliili), has openly criticized its focus on Kondo rather than the findings and recommendations regarding the two state agencies, ADC and SLDF. The hearings concluded in January after finding no criminal wrongdoing.
Kobayashi, who was the committee’s only accountant, said that Kondo’s work was peer reviewed and had received the
highest ratings.
On Tuesday, Kobayashi, who serves as chairman of the Committee on Legislative Management, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “It’s pretty clear to me that there’s no basis for these bills, either of them.”
The Investigative Committee’s focus on Kondo and the subsequent bills has a “chilling effect,” Kobayashi said. “We shouldn’t be auditing the auditor.”
Fellow certified public accountants are “just dumbfounded,” he said. “The people who know the profession the best are scratching their heads the hardest. They’re the most confused over all of this.”
Rep. Gene Ward, (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley),who serves on the Committee on Government Reform, on Wednesday called the bills aimed at Kondo the “‘Get Kondo’ bills.” He added, “That’s what they were, just another way of poking him in the eye. I’m glad they put it aside.”
