STAND. COM. REP. NO. 275

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 577

       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. 577 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require various campaign spending fines to be deposited into the Hawaii election campaign fund;

 

     (2)  Require the Campaign Spending Commission's operating expenses to be paid from the general fund; and

 

     (3)  Authorize the Campaign Spending Commission to use monies from the Hawaii election campaign fund for investigation expenses rather than operating expenses.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Campaign Spending Commission, Common Cause Hawaii, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Hawaii election campaign fund is the source of funding for the State's partial public funding program.  The fund has been significantly depleted since 2009, when state law was changed to divert various campaign spending fines to the general fund, rather than the Hawaii election campaign fund, and to make the Hawaii election campaign fund the source of funding for the Campaign Spending Commission's operating expenses.  This measure replenishes and establishes a consistent source of funding for the partial public funding program.

 

     Your Committee notes the written testimony submitted by the Campaign Spending Commission indicating that the Commission has been operating at a deficit of approximately $500,000 for the past six fiscal years.  Given this trend, the Commission is concerned that its revenue is insufficient to sustain its operations and programs in the long term.  Your Committee requests your Committee on Ways and Means to, if it chooses to hear this measure, explore various sustainable funding mechanisms for the Campaign Spending Commission.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the purpose section;

 

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

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     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. 577, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 577, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair