Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2844 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

1. Place a cap on the aggregate amount any individual or entity is permitted to contribute to all candidates during an election cycle;
2. Prohibit unions and corporations from giving direct campaign contributions;
3. Prohibit campaign contributions from persons who enter into state or county government contracts; and
4. Establish as a class C felony knowingly and intentionally falsifying any report required by the campaign financing law with the intent to circumvent the law or deceive the Campaign Financing Commission.

In addition, this bill:

1. Requires that campaign contributions used to qualify for public funding be received from individual residents of the state;
2. Prohibits candidates in special elections from receiving public funding;
3. Deletes adoption of the code of fair campaign practices as part of the campaign spending rules from enumerated duties of the Campaign Spending Commission; and
4. Clarifies provisions on return or escheat of excess contributions.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State of Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission, Common Cause Hawaii, and the League of Women Voters of Hawaii. The Hawaii State Teachers Association submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure.

Your Committee finds that restrictions on campaign contributions modeled after federal campaign spending law serve the public interest by reducing opportunities for improper influence, whether perceived or actual.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

1. Including candidates for state senate office in section 11-204(a)(1)(c) to avoid disparate treatment occasioned by reapportionment;
2. Rewording the provision that caps the combined contribution any contributor may give to all candidates to clarify that the period extends for two years from one general election to another;
3. Adding "known" to proposed section 11-205.5(b) to clarify that the prohibition does not apply if the person seeking the contribution is unaware that the person from whom contributions are sought is a government contractor;
4. Revising the proposed definition of "person" in section 11-205.5(e) to render prohibitions applicable to spouses but not to more distant family members;
5. Changing the mental state required to be found guilty of a class C felony from both knowingly and intentionally to either knowingly or intentionally;
6. Changing the effective date to the day following the next general election;
7. Correcting an inadvertent reference to "candidate" rather than "noncandidate" committee; and
8. Making technical, nonsubstantive revisions for clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2844, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2844, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.