Lawmakers pass bills on campaign, ethics reform
State lawmakers have passed three bills on campaign contributions, lobbying and gifts amid a session that’s put an emphasis on ethics reform following high-profile public corruption scandals.
House Bills 99, 137 and 142 have passed both the House and Senate and are now headed to Gov. Josh Green’s desk for consideration.
“We appreciate our Senate colleagues in their swift passage of these bills which demonstrates our unwavering commitment to increasing transparency and accountability in the legislative process,” said House Speaker Scott Saiki, who introduced the bills on request based on recommendations made by the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct. “We anticipate that these bills will be signed into law.”
The House created the commission in 2022 after two former state lawmakers, Sen. J. Kalani English of Maui and Rep. Ty Cullen of Oahu, pleaded guilty to taking bribes in exchange for influencing legislation. The commission met and recommended a number of changes to ethics and campaign finance laws.
One of the recently passed bills headed for the governor’s desk, HB 99, limits the total amount of cash a candidate, candidate committee or noncandidate committee may accept from a single person during each election period. The bill’s intent is to make cash contributions easier to trace, and to put an end to campaign law violations with cash, according to a news release from the House on Monday. The legislation is part of the Campaign Spending Commission bill package.
“This bill would make certain campaign finance law violations easier to detect and thus prevent,” Campaign Spending Commission Executive Director Kirstin Izumi-Nitao said on March 7 in testimony to the Senate Committee on Judiciary.
Another bill, HB 137, sets a requirement that beginning Jan. 1, 2025, lobbyists who file a statement of expenditures report must also include certain information on the identity of the legislature or administrative action that was commented on, supported by or opposed by the individual during the statement period. The measure is part of the state Ethics Commission bill package.
“By requiring lobbyists to identify the matters they lobbied on, this measure increases transparency and accountability in the lobbying process by providing more detailed information about the interests being represented and the issues being influenced,” the state Ethics Commission said on March 9 in testimony to the Senate Committee on Judiciary.
The third bill sent to Green, HB 142, prevents lobbyists from making gifts that are prohibited under state ethics law to legislators.
“The measure implements a recommendation made by the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct,” Saiki explained. “It doesn’t alter Hawai‘i’s existing gift law but by imposing a gifting restriction on lobbyists, we fully support furthering transparency in the legislative process.”