Ethics reform bills advance to Senate for review
The state House of Representatives passed 11 bills covering campaign finance laws, public records and other ethics reform measures Tuesday as part of a widespread effort this session to clamp down on public corruption.
The 11 bills, which were introduced based on recommendations in a final report by the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct, now cross over to the state Senate for consideration, the House announced Wednesday.
The House created the commission last year to propose reform in the wake of revelations that former Maui Sen. J. Kalani English and former Oahu Rep. Ty Cullen took bribes to influence legislation. The commission came up with 31 recommendations on ethics laws, campaign finance laws and government reform; 30 were intended for the House and were introduced by Speaker Scott Saiki this session.
As of the first crossover deadline, 23 out of the 28 bills proposed by the commission passed third reading in the House and will cross over to the Senate. The two resolutions proposed by the commission have also been incorporated into the House Rules for the 2023-2024 biennium.
“These bills combined with the amendments to the House Rules that have already been advised demonstrates the House’s commitment to the public to take ethics reform and the CISC recommendations seriously,” Saiki said in a news release Wednesday.
The measures passed Tuesday that will cross over to the Senate include House Bills 707, 710 and 711, which classify false claims and fraud as felonies that could disqualify a person from getting public election financing for 10 years if they are charged or convicted, depending on the crime.
Another bill, HB 717, targets nepotism by prohibiting state employees from hiring or promoting relatives and household members and from awarding a contract to a business if their relative or household member is an executive officer of or holds a substantial ownership interest in the business.
Other measures such as HB 719 aim to make it easier for the public to access records by imposing a cap on charges for reproducing or searching for certain government records and by waiving fees when government records are provided electronically or when disclosing the record is in the public’s interest.