CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 71

Honolulu, Hawaii

                 , 2007

RE:    H.B. No. 1130

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

       C.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Sir and Madam:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 1130, H.D. 1, S.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 bill is to improve our election system by:

(1)  Revising various election campaign filing deadlines and filing periods;

(2)  Clarifying the treatment of Internet activity under the campaign spending law by amending the definitions of "contribution" and "expenditure";

(3)  Requiring noncandidate committees to register with the Campaign Spending Commission (Commission) by filing an organizational report and to file the report earlier than candidate committees under certain circumstances;

(4)  Requiring:

     (A)  Noncandidate committees;

     (B)  Board of Education candidates;

     (C)  Board of Education candidate committees; and

(D)  Candidates who were previously exempt from mandatory electronic filing because their contributions or expenditures were $5,000 or less,

     to file their reports by electronic means;

(5)  Repealing the right of a candidate or candidate committee without access to a computer or the Internet to request a waiver from the Commission from the mandatory electronic filing requirement;

(6)  Repealing the two-fundraisers-per-election limit that currently applies to candidates who are not running for statewide office;

(7)  Clarifying the applicability of the cap on contributions by nonresident individuals and persons;

(8)  Increasing amounts that may be spent per voter for state and county elections in a partially publicly-funded campaign;

(9)  Adding the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney as an election subject to the spending limitation per voter in partially publicly-funded campaigns; and

(10) Increasing the maximum amount of public funding available to partially publicly-funded campaigns.

     Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

(1)  Deleting the sections relating to increased expenditure limits and available public funds for partially publicly-funded campaigns; and

     (2)  Changing the effective date to take effect upon approval.

     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 H.B. No. 1130, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1130, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair

____________________________ TOMMY WATERS, Chair