STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2832

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2579

       S.D. 2

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2579, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to establish new penalties for failing to file required campaign spending reports or for filing substantially defective or deficient reports.

     In addition, the measure provides that campaign spending penalties and fines shall be deposited into the general fund rather than the Hawaii election campaign fund.

     The State Campaign Spending Commission and the League of Women Voters of Hawaii submitted comments on the measure.

     Your Committee finds that by establishing the fines assessed on committees for failure to file or for filing a substantially defective report will encourage more timely disclosure and thereby support a central pillar of campaign spending law.  Your Committee further finds that fines imposed for failure to file a corrected report electronically within a certain amount of time will also serve to increase compliance with the law.

     Your Committee has amended the measure to:

     (1)  Clarify that all fines for failing to file a campaign spending report are imposed on the candidate committee, rather than the individual candidate;

     (2)  Delete unnecessary language concerning the revisor of statutes renumbering new sections; and

     (3)  Make technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2579, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2579, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair