STAND. COM. REP. NO. 670

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 937

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 937 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ETHICS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to change the disclosure deadline for financial interests to be filed with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission from between January 1 and May 31 to between January 1 and January 15 of each year.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii State Ethics Commission.

     Your Committee finds that this measure amends the filing period for certain individuals to file a financial disclosure statement to the State Ethics Commission.  However, your Committee notes that the language under section 84-17(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), was amended under Act 125, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, to require members of the Legislature to file their annual financial disclosure statements between January 1 and January 31 of each year and state employees and certain boards members to file their financial disclosure statements between January 1 and May 31 of each year.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Replacing the language of section 84-17(b), HRS, with language that recites the existing law of that section and further amends the language to change the disclosure statement deadline for financial interests for legislators from between January 1 and January 31 to between January 1 and January 15 of each year; and

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 937, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 937, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair