STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1233

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 141

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 141, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to, beginning January 1, 2025, require each state legislator to include within the legislator's disclosure of financial interests the names of certain lobbyists with whom the legislator has a relationship.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission, Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, All Hawaii News, and four individuals.

Your Committee finds that the public has a right to know who is in a position to influence legislators' decisions. Requiring additional disclosures that include identification of business relationships with lobbying groups will assist in identifying potential conflicts of interest, as well as ensure greater public confidence in the integrity of legislators.

Your Committee has amended this measure by adding language that specifies that each member of the legislature shall disclose the name of any person that is subject to section 97-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and that is a client of the member, member's partner, or member's employer, who is on the lobbyist list and not just a client with a lobbyist, where the client provided at least $5,000 of income during the preceding calendar year.

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. 141, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 141, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair