Legislative Committee Report
League testified on the following subject matters:
- We supported six ethics bills submitted by the Ethics Committee on the timely filing of financial disclosures or face a penalty, handling of frivolous suits, limiting exemptions for expert witnesses, and administration of the lobbyists law.
- We supported the Campaign Spending Commission's amendment to the campaign spending statute concerning loans to candidates requiring them to be paid on the day of the election or be considered contributions. If the loans exceed contribution limits, they would be declared to be illegal and treated as such. The House Judiciary chair amended this to allow five years for repayment and to use campaign funds for this purpose.
- We opposed the reduction or elimination of the GET and income taxes including capital gains until such time as we know how much income the state would lose and how they will make it up.
- We supported the intent of S.B. 1285 relating to public notice of government reports, etc., but opposed giving department heads sole right to determine the manner in which such reports would be made public-electronic or hard copy. We opposed eliminating the use of news-papers and the exclusive use of the electronic medium because it would curtail public access.
- We addressed our concerns before the House Judiciary on H.B. 119 and opposed "fast tracking" the ConCon. The bill was amended and passed. It will be addressed by the Senate next.
- We testified on S.B. 779 on ConCon stressing four points: time line, site, funding, and sunshine. The bill was deferred and appears dead.
- We attended the Elections Advisory Committee meeting and went over the Elections Office bills with a fine tooth comb. After small amendments were made, we could support them. We will be addressing those bills that survive the cross-over. We were not able to attend the hearings due to conflicting schedules.
Arlene Ellis
Chair, Pro Tern
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Fall 1996
Summer 1997
League of Women Voters of Hawaii Convention