STAND. COM. REP. 554

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 1547

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1547 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill as received by your committee is to establish a comprehensive program for public funding of candidates seeking election to the House of Representatives.

Testimony in support of this measure was received by American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Green Party of Hawaii, Hawaii Elections Project, Hawaii Clean Elections, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, League of Women Voters of Honolulu, Interfaith Alliance of Hawaii, and several concerned individuals. The Campaign Spending Commission opposed the measure.

Upon further consideration, your Committee amended the bill as follows:

(1) Expanded the scope of the public funding program to both Senate and House of Representatives;

(2) Added revisions to sections regarding the Hawaii election campaign fund to authorize funding for the proposed public funding for legislature offices program;

(3) Added revisions to sections of existing law regarding public funding of candidates to distinguish between the proposed public funding for legislature offices and the existing matching public funding for candidates seeking election to any office;

(4) Changed the sufficiency of funding for the public funding for legislature offices program to require sufficient public funding for one candidate per contested office in the election period;

(5) Changed the formula for public funding to allocate funding based on the voluntary expenditure limits under existing law (currently $1.40) per registered voter in the last general election. The publicly funded candidate will receive the allotment for each of the primary and general election if the primary is contested; but only for the general election if the primary is not contested;

(6) Changed the amount necessary to qualify for public funding to require collection of $3 contributions from 1.5% of the registered voters in the last general election;

(7) Changed "qualifying period" to end on the deadline date to file nomination papers for office;

(8) Removed sections on the equalizing formula to match a privately funded opponent because the formula for public funding changed;

(9) Added provision to permit use of surplus money for seed money. Surplus funds are frozen upon declaration of intent to seek public funding;

(10) Changed residency requirement to qualify for public funding to the requirement that the candidate reside in the district at the time nomination papers are filed; but that the candidate who seeks public funding must declare the office and district in which he/she intends to seek election when the candidate files the declaration of intent to seek public funding;

(11) Changed the penalty section to require that a candidate knowingly accept seed money contributions from a person in the name of another before being subject to a penalty;

(12) Added provision that imposes a disqualification for public funding if a candidate knowingly accepts qualifying contributions from a person in the name of another, as well as other penalties;

(13) Expanded the time for the commission to act on an application for public funding to five business days when the applications are filed within a week of the deadline for filing nomination papers;

(14) Clarified that candidates who are not certified for public funding under the Legislature Offices program may seek public funding under the matching program;

(15) Changed the period during which a publicly funded candidate is prohibited from accepting private contributions after being elected to September 1 or when the commission determines that insufficient funds exist to fund the Legislature Offices program;

(16) Clarified that public funded candidates are required to file the same reports as privately funded candidates and added additional reporting requirements for publicly funded candidates (petty case, bank statements, receipts etc.);

(17) Clarified that independent expenditures made without the consent, cooperation or participation of the publicly funded candidate are not contributions to the candidate;

(18) Changed the description of the program from "clean elections" to "public funding for Legislature Offices Elections" and made numerous technical changes to clarify the intent of the provisions; and

(19) Made other technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style and clarity.

 

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1547, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1547, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

 

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair