CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 152-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: S.B. No. 459
S.D. 1
H.D. 1
C.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 459, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CAMPAIGN SPENDING,"
having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.
The purpose of this measure is to amend campaign spending laws in Hawaii by:
(1) Prohibiting fundraising in buildings being used for state or county purposes, except as may be permitted by the facility's use regulations for a fee or by reservations;
(2) Prohibiting contributions by government contractors selected through a nonbid process, who seek contracts valued in excess of $25,000 or hold contracts in excess of $25,000;
(3) Prohibiting the use of campaign contributions for personal expenditures;
(4) Amending the registration requirements for candidates seeking reelection and reducing the trigger amount for reporting by noncandidate committees;
(5) Replacing the requirement that the Campaign Spending Commission adopt a Code of Fair Campaign Practices as part of its rules with the requirement that the commission adopt a schedule of administrative fines for categories of violations incorporating the penalties that are provided by statute;
(6) Conforming to a court's decision invalidating the Campaign Spending Commission's code of fair campaign practices and ability to censure candidates who fail to comply with the code;
(7) Amending the campaign contributions limits to $4,000 for candidates seeking offices of four-year terms, $2,000 for candidates seeking offices of two-year terms, $2,000 for noncandidate committees in a two-year election period, $5,000 per year for a party, and a maximum limit of $25,000 in the aggregate for all contributions from an individual in a two-year election period;
(8) Defining the ownership interest in a corporation or partnership as twenty-five percent for purposes of campaign contribution limits by individuals;
(9) Clarifying that excess contributions must be returned within thirty days or they will escheat to the Hawaii election campaign fund;
(10) Making falsifying reports and contributing under a false name or anonymously, with intent to circumvent the law or deceive the commission, a class C felony;
(11) Clarifying that a person who is prosecuted and convicted of campaign violations is not subject to administrative enforcement;
(12) Amending the public funding provisions to require qualifying contributions from residents of Hawaii only and to eliminate the ability of candidates to obtain public funding for special elections;
(13) Repealing §11-203, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), relating to limitations on fundraising activities;
(14) Requiring the Campaign Spending Commission to adopt a schedule of administrative fines for categories of violations, and direct that all administrative fines collected shall be deposited into the general fund; and
(15) Adding definitions and clarifying other terms for consistency of application.
After careful deliberation, your Committee on Conference amended this measure by:
(1) Deleting the new definition for "independent expenditure";
(2) Amending the definitions for "labor organization" and "separate segregated fund";
(3) Adding definitions for "residual funds" and "surplus funds" to §11-191, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS);
(4) Removing the amendments to the definitions of "election period" and "expenditure" in §11-191, HRS;
(5) Deleting the provision that requires the Campaign Spending Commission to adopt a schedule of administrative fines for categories of violations in §§11-193 and 11-228, HRS;
(6) Restoring the provision that allows the Campaign Spending Commission to censure any candidate who fails to comply with the code of fair campaign practices in §11-193, HRS;
(7) Amending the definition for "committee" and "noncandidate committee" to include "separate segregated fund";
(8) Restoring the filing requirements for noncandidate committees by increasing the contribution or expenditure amount to more than $1,000, in the aggregate, in a two-year election period in §11-194, HRS;
(9) Restoring the requirements for committees that form within ten days of either a primary or general election to increase the contribution and expenditure amount to more than $1,000 in the aggregate in §11-194, HRS;
(10) Shortening the required amount of time the county clerk's office must preserve all reports filed from ten years to four years in §11-195, HRS;
(11) Restoring the amount of charitable and community donations already provided for in §11-200, HRS;
(12) Restoring the campaign contribution amounts in §11-204(a) and (b), HRS;
(13) Restoring campaign contribution amounts for a candidate's immediate family members in §11-204;
(14) Restoring the provision that identifies any individual and any general partnership in which the individual is a partner, or an individual and any corporation in which the individual owns a controlling interest, shall be treated as one person in §11-204;
(15) Removing the provision that any excess contribution may be submitted to the Hawaii election campaign fund, rather, all the excess contributions not returned to original donors within thirty days of receipt shall escheat to the Hawaii election campaign fund in §11-204;
(16) Deleting the definition of ownership interests for corporations or partnerships for purposes of campaign contribution limits by individuals in §11-204;
(17) Amending §11-204(l) to correct the reference to the Code of Federal Regulations;
(18) Restricting out-of-state contributions from corporations, unions, and noncandidate committees that have little relationship to residents of the State in §11-204;
(19) Deleting the amendment to section 11-205.5 treating a person who owns twenty-five percent of the corporation who is a government contractor as the same as the contractor and adding that individual employees of a contractor may make campaign contributions with their own funds but officers and directors of the contractor are prohibited from making contributions in the same way as the government contractor;
(20) Clarifying that contributions are not prohibited from any business that has any government contract awarded pursuant to §§103D-303 and 103D-305, HRS in §11-205.5;
(21) Clarifying that government contractors are not prohibited from contributing to a candidate or candidate's committee if the candidate seeks a public office that does not have the authority to terminate the employment of an employee who has the authority or discretion to enter into, approve, or ratify the government contract sought or held by the government contractor in §11-205.5;
(22) Amended the definition of "nonbid" to mean the contractor is selected based on any procurement process other than pursuant to §§103D-303 and 103D-305;
(23) Restoring that surplus campaign contributions may be used for charitable and community service donations in any election cycle as is currently provided for in §11-206, HRS;
(24) Providing surplus campaign contributions to be used for contributions to a political party provided it is not earmarked for a specific candidate in §11-206;
(25) Adding a definition for "coordinated activity" and deleting the republication of website materials exemption in §11-207;
(26) Providing that disposition of residual funds by:
(A) Donating contributions to nonprofit organizations; or
(B) Donating contributions to any political party,
shall occur within one year for private campaign contributions;
(27) Amending the penalties for unions, corporations, and organizations to an administrative fine determined by the Campaign Spending Commission in §11-228, HRS;
(28) Restoring the current version of §11-203, HRS, entitled "fundraisers and fundraising activities";
(29) Deleting the amendment to §11-228 that required administrative fines to be deposited in the general fund;
(30) Changing the effective date to "January 1, 2005";
(31) Conforming the purpose section to these amendments; and
(32) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, style, and conformity.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 459, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 459, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:
ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE |
ON THE PART OF THE SENATE |
____________________________ ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair |
____________________________ COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair |
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