Hawaii legislative report calls for ‘better, honest’ government

A recently formed commission is recommending passage of 14 bills at the Legislature largely aimed at combating public corruption, improving government transparency and changing fundraising and campaign spending rules.

The Commission to Increase Standards of Conduct, formed by the House of Representatives on Feb. 17, a week after bribery indictments were brought against two former Hawaii lawmakers, released a preliminary report Thursday focused on legislative reform that can be implemented this year.

Among the recommendations: forming a special state Office of the Attorney General unit focused in part on public corruption, banning fundraising during the legislative session and posting lawmaker expense reimbursements online.

“Corruption on the part of a few public officials recently reared its ugly head in Hawaii,” said the report from the seven-member panel chaired by Daniel R. Foley, a retired state appellate judge. “Our citizens deserve better — honest government on the state and county level.”

Beyond backing several government-reform bills this year, the commission intends to produce a final report by Dec. 1 that will involve public input and more long-term recommendations in areas including lobbying, term limits, voting, campaign contribution restrictions and expanded conflict-of-interest provisions.

House Speaker Scott Saiki called the interim report well done.

“I know it’s just a start,” he said. “I think this is a great report. It was time for us to take a comprehensive look at our ethics and standards-of-conduct laws.”

Formation of the commission was in response to indictments of former Sen. J. Kalani English and former Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen, who pleaded guilty to taking cash bribes and other items of value in recent years from a local business owner in return for action on legislation. They await sentencing and face up to 20 years in federal prison.

Two bills recommended by the panel focus on increasing fines related to unlawful campaign contribution expenditures (House Bill 1423) and noncandidate committee reporting and advertising violations (Senate Bill 212). Technically, SB 212 has stalled, but Saiki said its goal could be carried out in a somewhat related House bill that’s still pending.

Senate Bill 665, another recommended measure, would allow the state Campaign Spending Commission to refer a complaint to the attorney general or county prosecutor for criminal prosecution in addition to assessing administrative fines. Among other things, the bill also would disqualify someone from holding public office for 10 years, up from four years, if convicted of a campaign finance crime.

While the bill to establish a new Attorney General’s Office unit, Senate Bill 2930, has stalled, Saiki said the unit still could be created as part of the state budget bill.

In the area of transparency, the commission recommends passage of three bills.

Senate Bill 3172 would require any electronic audio or visual recordings of state board meetings be maintained as a public record.

Senate Bill 2143 would require state boards to make meeting materials prepared for board members available to the public at least 48 hours prior to meetings.

And Senate Bill 3252 would cap charges for reproducing certain government records and for searching, reviewing and segregating digital records. This measure also would waive fees for producing a digital record that serves the public interest, or for duplicating government records in an electronic format.

Additionally, the commission recommends that under an administrative policy change the House and Senate post all legislative allowance expense reimbursements for lawmakers online.

“Making these reimbursements available for public review would further the goal of increased public trust and confidence in how taxpayer dollars are being spent on official business by legislative members,” the report said.

To improve ethical standards, the commission recommends passing two bills.

House Bill 1475 would require all state employees to complete ethics training within 90 days of starting a job and at least once every four years afterward.

The other measure, House Bill 2069, would create procedures for handling protocol gifts and produce a publicly available written record of such gifts.

To reduce the power of money in politics, the commission urged passing five bills.

Senate Bill 555 would prohibit legislators as well as employees or others acting on their behalf from holding any fundraiser during the legislative session.

The four other bills relate to changes in Campaign Spending Commission rules having to do with electioneering communications (House Bill 1888), candidate reports (House Bill 1427), contested cases (House Bill 1426) and eliminating outdated campaign spending law references (Senate Bill 2043).

Some commission members also had personal suggestions for amendments to some bills, though the overall list of bills was produced by a consensus of members.

In addition to Foley, commission members are Robert Harris, executive director of the State Ethics Commission; Kristin Izumi- Nitao, executive director of the Campaign Spending Commission; Sandy Ma, executive director of good- government group Common Cause Hawaii; former state Rep. Barbara Marumoto; League of Women Voters member Janet Mason; and Florence Nakakuni, former U.S. attorney for the District of Hawaii.

The report noted that some bills introduced this year that have stalled and can’t properly be revived but are supported by the commission may be included in the commission’s final report.