STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2468

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2147
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No.
2147 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CAMPAIGN SPENDING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committee, is
to limit to $2,000 campaign contributions made to candidates in
the state Senate and county council races in the 2002 election
cycle.

     Your Committee finds that many states have set lower
campaign contribution limits per candidate per election cycle
than is provided by Hawaii law.  Your Committee notes that
several states have limits of less than $1,000 per candidate per
election, and that contribution limits have been held to be
constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Your Committee
believes that a flat contribution limit applicable to all offices
will make for greater simplicity in campaign finance laws.  Your
Committee further believes that a contribution limit of $2,000
for all candidates for office in both the 2002 election cycle and
in future elections would create campaign contribution limits in
Hawaii similar to those found in federal law and in many other
states.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Campaign Spending Commission and Common Cause Hawaii.


 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2468
                                   Page 2


     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by deleting its substance and inserting a provision
amending Section 11-204(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes, to change
the campaign contribution limits to $2,000 for candidates for all
offices, beginning after the 2000 general election.

     Your Committee has also added a session law provision
expressing your Committee's intent that the new contribution
limit apply only to contributions made after the 2000 general
election.  It is your Committee's intent that any contributions
to a candidate for an office with a 2002 election date, if made
before the 2000 general election, be governed by current law.
If, for instance, a senator elected in 1998 and running for re-
election in 2002 receives a legal $4,000 campaign contribution
prior to November 8, 2000, that contribution will still be
considered legal in 2001 and does not have to be returned.  If
the same senator then receives a $4,000 contribution from a
different contributor in December 2000, that new contribution
will be illegal under the terms of this bill, because it will
have been made after the $2,000 contribution limit went into
effect.

     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 S.B. No.
2147, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second
Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2147, S.D. 1, and
be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

                                   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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