STAND. COM. REP. NO. 157

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 728

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 728 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to align the partial public funding expenditure limit and maximum amount of public funds available for candidates running for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs with the maximum limit and amount imposed on candidates running for the office of lieutenant governor.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Democratic Party of Hawaii – Hawaiian Affairs Caucus, Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, and eight individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Campaign Spending Commission.

Your Committee finds that candidates running for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs who voluntarily agree to participate in the partial public funding program run statewide campaigns but are provided substantially less partial public funding than other statewide candidates. This measure seeks to increase the partial public funding expenditure limit and maximum amount of public funds available for candidates for these Board of Trustees candidates. However, your Committee received testimony indicating that this measure, if enacted, would increase the expenditure limit for Board of Trustees candidates by seven hundred percent. Rather than proceed with such a significant increase, your Committee finds that a more reasonable approach to addressing the funding imbalance for Board of Trustees candidates is to increase only the $1,500 cap on the maximum amount of public funds available to Board of Trustees candidates, leaving the partial public funding expenditure limit unamended.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing language to align the partial public funding expenditure limit for candidates for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs with the limit imposed on candidates running for the office of lieutenant governor;

(2) Increasing the maximum amount of public funds available in each election to each Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs candidate from ten percent to fifteen percent of the expenditure limit established in section 11-423(d), Hawaii Revised Statutes, which the Campaign Spending Commission has indicated in testimony will increase the maximum amount from $1,500 to $21,383 per candidate, per election; and

(3) Increasing the amount a candidate for the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs must raise to qualify for public funds from $1,500 to $5,000; and

(4) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 728, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 728, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair