REPORT TITLE:
Ethics


DESCRIPTION:
Prohibits legislators and appointed employees from accepting
gifts from lobbyists.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            49          
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO STANDARDS OF CONDUCT.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 84-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended to read as follows:
 
 3      "§84-11  Gifts.  (a)  No legislator or employee shall
 
 4 solicit, accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, any gift,
 
 5 whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel,
 
 6 entertainment, hospitality, thing, or promise, or in any other
 
 7 form, under [circumstances in which it] any of the following
 
 8 circumstances:
 
 9      (1)  The gift can reasonably be inferred [that the gift is]
 
10           as being intended to influence the legislator or
 
11           employee in the performance of the legislator's or
 
12           employee's official duties or is intended as a reward
 
13           for any official action on the legislator's or
 
14           employee's part[.]; or
 
15      (2)  The gift is received from a lobbyist, defined in
 
16           section 97-1, unless the gift comes in any of the
 
17           following forms:
 
18           (A)  A contribution as defined in section 97-1;
 
19           (B)  Services to assist a legislator or employee in the
 

 
Page 2                                         49          
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                performance of official acts, including the
 
 2                services of providing advice, consultation,
 
 3                information, and communication related to
 
 4                legislation, and services to constituents;
 
 5           (C)  Services of insignificant monetary value;
 
 6           (D)  A plaque or similar memento recognizing the
 
 7                legislator or employee for services in a field of
 
 8                specialty or to a charitable cause;
 
 9           (E)  A trinket or memento of insignificant value;
 
10           (F)  Informational material of unexceptional value; or
 
11           (G)  Food or beverage given at a social reception,
 
12                meal, or meeting held away from the legislator's
 
13                or employee's principal place of work by a
 
14                business before whom the legislator or employee
 
15                appears to make a speech or answer questions as
 
16                part of a program.
 
17      (b)  The prohibitions contained in this section shall not
 
18 apply if the gifts are given under either of the following
 
19 circumstances:
 
20      (1)  The gift is attributable to the legislator's or
 
21           employee's membership in a group, a majority of whose
 
22           members are not legislators or employees, and an
 
23           equivalent gift is given to the other members of the
 

 
Page 3                                         49          
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           group; or
 
 2      (2)  The gift is received from a lobbyist who is a member of
 
 3           the family of the legislator or employee, unless the
 
 4           gift is given on behalf of a person who is not a member
 
 5           of that family."
 
 6      SECTION 2.  Section 97-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 7 amended to read as follows:
 
 8      "[[]§97-5[]]  Restricted activities.  No lobbyist shall
 
 9 [accept] do any of the following:
 
10      (1)  Accept or agree to accept any payment in any way
 
11           contingent upon the defeat, enactment, or outcome of
 
12           any proposed legislative or administrative action[.];
 
13           or
 
14      (2)  Give or request another person to give a gift to a
 
15           legislator or an employee, as defined in section 84-3,
 
16           if that legislator or employee is prohibited from
 
17           receiving that gift under section 84-11." 
 
18      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
19 New statutory material is underscored.
 
20      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
21 
 
22                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________