Report Title:
Campaign contributions and solicitations
Description:
Prohibits campaign contributions from staff persons to legislators or county council members; prohibits solicitation of campaign contributions by legislators or county council members from staff persons.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1840 |
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TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to campaign contributions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Section 11-204, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§11-204 Campaign contributions; limits as to persons[.]; solicitations.
(a) (1) No person or any other entity shall make contributions to:
(A) A candidate seeking nomination or election to a two-year office or to the candidate's committee in an aggregate amount greater than $2,000 during an election period;
(B) A candidate seeking nomination or election to a four-year statewide office or to the candidate's committee in an aggregate amount greater than $6,000 during an election period; and
(C) A candidate seeking nomination or election to a four-year nonstatewide office or to the candidate's committee in an aggregate amount greater than $4,000 during an election period.
These limits shall not apply to a loan made to a candidate by a financial institution in the ordinary course of business.
(2) For purposes of this section, the length of term of an office shall be the usual length of term of the office as unaffected by reapportionment, a special election to fill a vacancy, or any other factor causing the term of the office the candidate is seeking to be less than the usual length of term of that office.
(b) No person or any other entity shall make contributions to a noncandidate committee, in an aggregate amount greater than $1,000 in an election; except that in the case of a corporation or company using funds from its own treasury, there shall be no limit on contributions or expenditures to the corporation or company noncandidate committee.
(c) A candidate's immediate family, in making contributions to the candidate's campaign, shall be exempt from the above limitation, but shall be limited in the aggregate to $50,000 in any election period. The aggregate amount of $50,000 shall include any loans made for campaign purposes to the candidate from the candidate's immediate family.
(d) A contribution by a dependent minor shall be reported in the name of the minor but shall be counted against the contribution of the minor's parent or guardian.
(e) Any candidate, candidate's committee, or committee that receives in the aggregate more than the applicable limits set forth in this section in any primary, initial special, special, or general election from a person, shall be required to do one of the following:
(1) Regardless of whether the excess donation was inadvertently made, to transfer an amount equal to any excess over the limits established in this section to the Hawaii election campaign fund within thirty days of receipt of the contribution, and in any event, no later than thirty days upon the receipt by a candidate, candidate's committee, or committee, of notification from the commission; or
(2) If the excess donation was inadvertently made, to return to the donor any excess over the limits established in this section and to notify the commission within thirty days of receipt of the contribution.
A candidate, candidate's committee, or committee who complies with this subsection prior to the initiation of prosecution shall not be subject to any penalty under section 11-228.
(f) All payments made by a person or political party whose contributions or expenditure activity is financed, maintained, or controlled by any corporation, labor organization, association, political party, or any other person or committee, including any parent, subsidiary, branch, division, department, or local unit of the corporation, labor organization, association, political party, political committees established and maintained by a national political party, or any other person, or by any group of those persons shall be considered to be made by a single person or political party.
(g) A contribution made by two or more corporations shall be treated as one person when such corporations:
(1) Share the majority of members of their boards of directors;
(2) Share two or more corporate officers;
(3) Are owned or controlled by the same majority shareholder or shareholders; or
(4) Are in a parent-subsidiary relationship.
(h) An individual and any general partnership in which the individual is a partner, or an individual and any corporation in which the individual owns a controlling interest, shall be treated as one person.
(i) No committee which supports or opposes a candidate for public office shall have as officers individuals who serve as officers on any other committee which supports or opposes the same candidate. No such committee shall act in concert with, or solicit or make contributions on behalf of, any other committee.
(j) No contributions shall be made to a legislator or county council member by a civil service exempt employee who is employed by the legislator or county council member during the time of the employee's employment and the nine-month period following the termination of employment.
(k) No legislator or county council member shall solicit campaign funds from any employee of the legislator or county council member at any location, whether at work or at any other site.
[(j)](l) No contributions or expenditures shall be made to or on behalf of a candidate or committee by a foreign national or foreign corporation, including a domestic subsidiary of a foreign corporation, a domestic corporation that is owned by a foreign national, or a local subsidiary where administrative control is retained by the foreign corporation, and in the same manner prohibited under 2 United States Code section 441e and 11 Code of Federal Regulations 110.4(a) and 110.9(a), as amended. No foreign-owned domestic corporation shall make contributions where:
(1) Foreign national individuals participate in election-related activities such as decisions concerning the making of contributions or the administration of a political committee; or
(2) The contribution funds are not domestically-derived.
[(k)](m) No person or any other entity other than political committees established and maintained by a national political party shall make contributions to a political party in an aggregate amount greater than $25,000 in any two-year election period. No political committee established and maintained by a national political party, shall make contributions to a political party in an aggregate amount greater than $50,000 in any two-year election period.
[(l)](n) Except for subsection [(j)](l), this section shall not apply to ballot issue committees."
SECTION 2. Section 11-229, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§11-229 Criminal prosecution. (a) [Any] Except as provided in subsection (b), any person who knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly violates any provision of this subpart shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) A person who knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly violates section 11-204(j) or (k) shall be guilty of a class C felony.
(c) A person who is convicted under this section shall be disqualified from holding elective public office for a period of four years from the date of conviction.
[(b)](d) For purposes of prosecution for violation of this subpart, the offices of the attorney general and the prosecuting attorney of the respective counties shall be deemed to have concurrent jurisdiction to be exercised as follows:
(1) Prosecution shall commence with a written request from the commission or upon the issuance of an order of the court; provided that prosecution may commence prior to any proceeding initiated by the commission or final determination;
(2) In the case of state offices, parties, or issues, the attorney general or the prosecuting attorney for the city and county of Honolulu shall prosecute any violation; and
(3) In the case of all other offices, parties, or issues, the attorney general or the prosecuting attorney for the respective county shall prosecute any violation.
In the commission's choice of prosecuting agency, it shall be guided by whether there will be any conflicting interest between the agency and its appointive authority.
[(c)](e) The court shall give priority to the expeditious processing of suits under this section.
[(d)](f) Prosecution for violation of any provision of this subpart shall not be commenced after five years have elapsed from the date of the violation or date of filing of the report covering the period in which the violation occurred, whichever is later.
[(e)](g) The provisions of this section
shall not apply to any person who, prior to the commencement of proceedings under this section, has paid or agreed to pay the penalties prescribed by sections 11-193(a)(5) and 11-215(c)."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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