STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1298

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1132

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 1132, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTERESTS STATEMENTS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Require state employees specified under section 84-17(c), Hawaii Revised Statutes, except for state legislators, to file a disclosure of financial interest statement with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission between January 1 and May 31 of each year; and

 

     (2)  Require state legislators to file a disclosure of financial interest statement with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission between January 1 and January 31 of each year.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Ethics Commission and Common Cause Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that existing law requires legislators to file annual financial disclosure statements by May 31 of each year, which is after the end of the regular legislative session.  The annual financial disclosure statements of legislators are public records and available for inspection and duplication.  By amending the filing deadline to January 31, this measure will allow the financial disclosure statements of legislators to be made available to the public earlier in the regular legislative session and allow the public to assess a legislator's actions or positions during the legislative session against the legislator's publicly disclosed financial interests.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

 

     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 H.B. No. 1132, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1132, 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 and Labor,

 

 

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair