Public weighs in on government reform in Hawaii

A 5-month-old commission aiming to improve conduct standards for Hawaii government officials finished an initial set of public meetings Wednesday as it moves closer to producing a much-anticipated report by the end of this year.

The Commission to Increase Standards of Conduct has held five public meetings since June 1 at which it has discussed many reform ideas, been briefed by authorities on various subjects and received comments from the general public.

The seven-member panel chaired by retired state appellate Judge Daniel R. Foley so far has explored topics that include tighter rules for lobbying at the Legislature, greater prohibition of nepotism in state government, term limits for lawmakers, ranked-choice voting and campaign finance reform, among other things.

Most public testimony by far keyed on the commission’s June 29 meeting focusing on campaign finance reform.

The commission received written comments from about 140 people right before or after this meeting, with many wanting to see several of the same changes including banning campaign contributions from corporations and unions, limiting the use of unspent contributions in subsequent elections and capping individual contributions at $100 in contrast with the current limit that ranges from $2,000 to $6,000 depending on the office.

“We have elected officials and big-money campaign donors under indictment,” Robin Knox of Kihei said in written testimony June 28. “We have two state legislators who have pleaded guilty to accepting bribes. We have obscenely high campaign account balances, approaching $1 million held by some legislators. And we have as a regular occurrence legislators fundraising directly from special interests poised to benefit from the votes of those same legislators.”

The creation of the commission Feb. 17 by the state House of Representatives was prompted by federal bribery charges filed Feb. 8 against two former Hawaii lawmakers, Sen. J. Kalani English and Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen.

English, who retired last year, was recently sentenced to 40 months in federal prison, fined $100,000 and ordered to forfeit $13,305 in bribes excluding $5,000 he previously turned over. Cullen, who resigned Feb. 8, awaits sentencing.

The commission produced an interim March 31 report recommending passage of 14 then-pending bills dealing with local government reform.

Lawmakers passed about half of the bills in May, including one to require ethics training of legislators and their employees every four years.

As part of its public meetings since then, the commission has received briefings from federal and state law enforcement agents, state agency representatives and others including the executive director of the Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest, R. Brian Black.

“The status quo as far as public trust in government is not working,” Black told the commission at its meeting Wednesday.

Randy Roth, a retired University of Hawaii law professor who also gave a presentation to the panel Wednesday, floated the idea of forming some kind of panel of disconnected exemplary members that can examine actions of other watchdog or oversight entities such as the Honolulu Police Commission.

“You need to have a group that the public perceives as not part of the in-crowd,” he said.

Roth, who has tuned in to the commission’s other meetings, also said the commission has a lot of good suggestions to work with.

“You’ve been presented with some terrific ideas,” he said.

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; Nikos Leverenz, advisory board member 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 commission plans to have more public meetings, the next of which is scheduled for Aug. 17 with a focus on the legislative process.

Work by the commission is expected to result in the panel drafting bills for introduction at next year’s legislative session in an effort to make new law. Foley said the panel will seek public comment on its draft bills before submitting them for introduction.

The commission also could recommend changes to legislative rules and other things in its final report to the Legislature by the end of this year.