STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1390

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 72
                                        H.D. 2
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No.
72, H.D. 2, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to amend the campaign spending
law with respect to the voluntary expenditure limit and public
matching funds provisions.  Specifically the bill:

     (1)  Amends the definition of "qualifying contribution" to
          clarify that makers of such contributions cannot have
          contributed more than $100 during any matching payment
          period;

     (2)  Deletes the exemption for certain fundraising costs
          from the voluntary campaign expenditures limit;

     (3)  Repeals a provision permitting a candidate to withdraw
          an affidavit of compliance with voluntary spending
          limits;

     (4)  Moves the deadline for filing affidavits of compliance
          to the date of filing nomination papers;

     (5)  Clarifies that expenditure limits apply to each
          election;


 
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     (6)  Changes the time period within which candidates who
          exceed spending limits must notify all contributors
          from the same day to thirty days;

     (7)  Amends the distribution procedure for the Hawaii
          Election Campaign Fund, if near depletion, to
          distribution by order in which application filed;

     (8)  Clarifies that the maximum amount of public matching
          funds available to any candidate is based on the
          maximum expenditure limit per election;

     (9)  Allows the minimum qualifying contributions for each
          election to be based on the total qualifying
          contributions to date instead of just those relating to
          the particular election (primary, general, or special)
          for which matching funds are sought;

    (10)  Changes the deadline for application for matching funds
          from sixty to thirty days after the general election;

    (11)  Changes the time by which initial public funds checks
          must be issued from ten to twenty days after
          application;

    (12)  Deletes a provision that a candidate less than one
          percent over expenditure limits need only return
          twenty-five percent of public funds; and

    (13)  Clarifies that all unspent public funds must be
          returned.

     Your Committee finds that the changes to the elections law
made by this bill will promote fairness in the campaign process,
more effective use of public matching funds for their intended
purpose, and encourage compliance with voluntary spending limits. 

     Your Committee's reading of this bill is that it will change
the matching fund requirements by allowing candidates to meet the
minimum contribution requirement based on their total qualifying
contributions collected during any matching payment period, even
if their qualifying contributions for that particular election
would otherwise fall below the minimum.  Thus, a candidate who
raises only the minimum amount necessary for the primary
election, but then raises a greater qualifying amount for the
general election, will be able to collect matching funds for the
general election based on the qualifying amount collected toward
the general election.  Similarly, a candidate who raises the
minimum qualifying amount for the primary election but raises

 
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less than the minimum amount for the general election will still
qualify for matching funds for the money raised for the general
election, because the total of primary and general election
contributions will be greater than the minimum amount required.
Your Committee further finds that the law needs clarification to
prohibit the use of public funds to match any portion of a
contribution of more than one hundred dollars.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Campaign Spending Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union
of Hawaii, the League of Women Voters, and Common Cause Hawaii.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Deleting its contents and substituting the contents of
          S.B. 629, S.D. 1, which is similar, but retains the
          provision exempting fundraiser expenses from spending
          limits, deletes a provision requiring a candidate who
          exceeds spending limits by one percent or less to
          return only 25 percent of public funds, and adds a
          provision that preserves the amendments made by this
          bill when the amendments made to chapter 11, Hawaii
          Revised Statutes, are repealed and reenacted;

     (2)  Deleting proposed new language to clarify the method by
          which matching funds are allocated between the primary
          and general elections, at the request of the Campaign
          Spending Commission; and

     (3)  Retaining existing language requiring that a candidate
          seeking matching funds not be unopposed, even though
          the requirement is stated elsewhere in the law, at the
          request of the Campaign Spending Commission.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
72, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 72, H.D. 2, S.D.
1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.


 
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary,



                                   ______________________________
                                   AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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