Tougher Campaign Finance Laws Top Standards Commission Agenda

A fee to reinforce authorities transparency in Hawaii is weighing a handful of measures geared toward tightening marketing campaign finance legal guidelines and lowering the affect of cash in politics in a 12 months the place a number of prolific political donors made headlines for alleged bribery.

In February, former lawmakers J. Kalani English and Ty Cullen had been charged with being a part of a bribery scheme to affect laws after they accepted money funds and different items from a rich wastewater govt.

And earlier this month, former Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, together with native contractor Dennis Mitsunaga and several other of his associates, had been arrested on federal bribery fees after federal prosecutors alleged that Mitsunaga used marketing campaign donations to repay Kaneshiro.

The current instances led to the creation of the Fee to Enhance Requirements of Conduct, which plans to come back again to the Legislature with proposals on authorities ethics, elections and extra.

On Wednesday, the company in command of overseeing state marketing campaign finance legal guidelines got here earlier than the brand new fee with concepts for eliminating pay-to-play schemes in political donations.

State legislation already bans corporations from donating to candidates if they’re at present engaged on a authorities contract. However a loophole within the legislation nonetheless permits workers and officers of these corporations to proceed making political donations.

Employees on the Marketing campaign Spending Fee proposed closing that loophole. Dan Foley, the requirements fee chairman, recommended that proposal might be expanded additional to cowl contractors who bid on initiatives.

Govt Director Kristin Izumi-Nitao stated implementing the present legislation has been troublesome as a result of every county handles procurement in a different way. To correctly implement the legislation, she stated the state and counties would wish a centralized hub the place contracts may be extra simply monitored by the fee.

“That’s one thing we might have a look at. Proper now, there’s actually nothing centralized for us to take a look at that’s constant,” Izumi-Nitao stated.

One other proposal would put an finish to a observe by state lawmakers that exploits a authorized loophole permitting them to funnel marketing campaign funds to their colleagues.

Elected officers are typically prohibited from utilizing their marketing campaign funds to donate to different lawmakers. However some, notably these with giant battle chests, usually purchase tickets to their colleagues’ fundraisers to get across the prohibition.

The tactic has been used to assist curry favor with lawmakers and prop up the factions that run the Home and Senate.

And whereas lawmakers handed a invoice this 12 months that will ban fundraising occasions whereas the Legislature is in session, the fee is asking on them to go a step additional and prohibit accepting any marketing campaign donations throughout that point as properly.

Izumi-Nitao stated that the fee nonetheless wants to debate how the ban might be utilized to county councils, the mayors and the governor – officers who don’t have a set time to satisfy annually to move payments just like the Legislature.

The fee additionally thought-about measures to extend fines on tremendous PACs that violate spending legal guidelines, goal bills by lawmakers and impose additional limits on marketing campaign donations per election cycle.

The fee informally accredited these concepts. It has till December to finalize an inventory of measures to suggest within the 2023 legislative session.

The members appeared much less eager on taking on a proposal to develop public financing for Hawaii elections. Candidates can turn out to be eligible for public financing if they comply with restrict their bills. In alternate, they will qualify for cash to partially fund their marketing campaign.

Proponents argue increasing public financing might assist get rid of the affect of cash in politics.

Jonathan Wayne, who oversees public financing of elections in Maine, urged the fee to think about the prices, warning that Hawaii would wish the workers to supervise a public funding program.

The Maine Legislature transfers $3 million annually to assist fund campaigns that comply with related provisions.

Hawaii’s public election fund stands at about $1.6 million. The first supply of funding comes from a $3 donation that Hawaii residents could make after they file their taxes. Annual revenues from these donations have dropped from over $210,000 in 2010 to about $125,000 in 2021.