Report Title:

Campaign spending

Description:

To enhance the integrity of election campaigns by tightening laws on campaign funding and spending.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

653

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

  

STATE OF HAWAII

  

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO CAMPAIGN SPENDING.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Section 11-194, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:

"(a) Each candidate, committee, or party shall file an organizational report as set forth in section 11-196, or section 11-196.5 as applicable, within ten days from the date a candidate or candidate committee receives any contributions or makes any expenditures, the aggregate amount of which is more than $100, or, within ten days from the date a noncandidate committee receives any contributions or makes any expenditures, the aggregate amount of which is more than $1,000[.] in a two-year election period.

(b) Committees that form within ten days of an election and expend in the aggregate more than $1,000 for the election shall register and fully disclose the expenditure by 4:30 p.m. on the last calendar day prior to the expenditure."

SECTION 2. Section 11-195, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

"(d) All reports filed with the county clerk's office shall be preserved by that office for [ten] four years[.] from the date of receipt."

SECTION 3. Section 11-195, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (f) to read as follows:

"(f) For purposes of this subpart, whenever a report is required to be filed with the commission, "filed" means received in the office of the commission or county clerk, whichever is applicable, by the date and time specified for the filing of the report; except that a candidate or the committee of a candidate who is seeking election to the office of:

(1) Governor;

(2) Lieutenant governor;

(3) Mayor;

(4) Prosecuting attorney; [or]

(5) County council;

(6) Senate;

(7) House of representatives; or

(8) Office of Hawaiian affairs;

shall file by electronic means in the manner prescribed by the commission. Candidates for the offices named in this subsection with contributions or expenditures of less than $5,000 need not file by electronic means. A candidate or committee without access to a computer or the Internet may request a waiver of electronic filing from the commission."

SECTION 4. Section 11-200, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, a candidate, campaign treasurer, or candidate's committee, as a contribution:

(1) May purchase from its campaign fund not more than two tickets for each event held by another candidate, committee, or party whether or not the event constitutes a fundraiser as defined in section 11-203; and

(2) May use campaign funds for any ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with the candidate's duties as a holder of an elected state or county office, as the term is used in section 11-206(c)[; and

(3) May make contributions from its campaign fund to any community service, educational, youth, recreational, charitable, scientific, or literary organization, provided that in any election cycle, the total amount of all contributions from campaign funds and surplus funds shall be no more than the maximum amount that one person or other entity may contribute to that candidate pursuant to section 11-204(a)]."

SECTION 5. Section 11-204, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§11-204 Campaign contributions; limits as to persons.

(a) (1) No person or any other entity shall make contributions to:

(A) A candidate seeking nomination or election to a two-year office or to the candidate's committee in an aggregate amount greater than $2,000 during an election period;

(B) A candidate seeking nomination or election to a four-year statewide office or to the candidate's committee in an aggregate amount greater than $6,000 during an election period; and

(C) A candidate seeking nomination or election to a four-year nonstatewide office, or to the candidate's committee in an aggregate amount greater than $4,000 during an election period.

These limits shall not apply to a loan made to a candidate by a financial institution in the ordinary course of business[.];

(2) Contribution limits shall apply for the office sought by the candidate;

[(2)] (3) For purposes of this section, the length of term of an office shall be the usual length of term of the office as unaffected by reapportionment, a special election to fill a vacancy, or any other factor causing the term of the office the candidate is seeking to be less than the usual length of term of that office.

(b) No person or any other entity shall make contributions to a noncandidate committee, in an aggregate amount greater than $1,000 in an election; except that in the case of a corporation or company using funds from its own treasury, there shall be no limit on contributions or expenditures to the corporation or company noncandidate committee.

(c) A candidate's immediate family, in making contributions to the candidate's campaign, shall be exempt from the above limitation, but shall be limited in the aggregate to $50,000 in any election period. The aggregate amount of $50,000 shall include any loans made for campaign purposes to the candidate from the candidate's immediate family.

(d) A contribution by a dependent minor shall be reported in the name of the minor but shall be counted against the contribution of the minor's parent or guardian.

(e) Any candidate, candidate's committee, or committee that receives in the aggregate more than the applicable limits set forth in this section in any primary, initial special, special, or general election from a person, shall be required to do one of the following:

[(1) Regardless of whether the excess donation was inadvertently made, to transfer an amount equal to any excess over the limits established in this section to the Hawaii election campaign fund within thirty days of receipt of the contribution, and in any event, no later than thirty days upon the receipt by a candidate, candidate's committee, or committee, of notification from the commission; or

(2) If the excess donation was inadvertently made, to return to the donor any excess over the limits established in this section and to notify the commission within thirty days of receipt of the contribution.]

(1) Any excess contribution may be returned to the original donor within thirty days from receipt of the excess contribution or submitted to the Hawaii election campaign fund.

(2) After thirty days from receipt, all excess contributions not returned to the original donors shall escheat to the Hawaii election campaign fund.

A candidate, candidate's committee, or committee who complies with this subsection prior to the initiation of prosecution shall not be subject to any penalty under section 11-228."

SECTION 6. Section 11-214, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

"(d) This section shall not apply to[:] candidates or elected officials:

[(1) Elected officials;

(2) Candidates who] (1) Who failed to be nominated or elected yet who become a candidate for nomination or election to office within four years thereafter;

[(3) Elected officials who] (2) Who resign their office before the end of their term yet who file to become a candidate for reelection within four years after the end of the term from which they resigned; or

[(4) Elected officials who] (3) Who do not seek reelection yet who file to become a candidate for election within four years after the end of the term from which they did not seek reelection."

SECTION 7. Section 11-229, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Any person who knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly violates any provision of this subpart shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who knowingly or intentionally falsifies any report required by this subpart with the intent to circumvent the law or deceive the commission or who violates section 11-201 or 11-202 shall be guilty of a class C felony. A person who is convicted under this section shall be disqualified from holding elective public office for a period of four years from the date of conviction."

SECTION 8. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2006.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

BY REQUEST