CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO.151-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2431

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

C.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 2431, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CAMPAIGN SPENDING,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to strengthen the State's campaign spending laws, primarily by:

(1) Placing a cap on the aggregate amount an individual or entity may contribute to all candidates during an election cycle;

(2) Prohibiting unions, corporations, and banks from giving direct campaign contributions;

(3) Prohibiting an office that has discretion or authority for awarding government contracts to award contracts to any person who has made a campaign contribution to a candidate;

(4) Making knowingly and intentionally falsifying any required report, with the intent to circumvent the law or deceive the Campaign Spending Commission a Class C felony;

(5) Requiring that campaign contributions used to qualify for public funding be received from individual residents of the State;

(6) Clarifying that prohibitions on corporate or labor organization contributions to noncandidate committees apply as contributions to separate segregated funds (PACS); and

(7) Regulating soft money of political parties and candidates.

Upon further consideration, your Committee on Conference amended this measure as follows:

(1) To delete the sections inserted by the House of Representatives dealing with soft money and independent expenditures of candidates;

(2) To reinstate existing law in section 11-204(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), that provides for no limit on corporate contributions or expenditures to the corporation or company noncandidate committee;

(3) To reformat the amendments to section 11-204, HRS, so that the provisions regarding contributions by banks, labor organizations, and corporations are inserted as new subsection (l) of that section;

(4) To provide that any person owning at least a 25% interest in a general partnership shall be considered the same person as the partnership; and

(5) To provide that, notwithstanding the prohibitions on campaign contributions by banks, labor organizations, and corporations, these entities shall be allowed to make up to $6,000 in campaign contributions during a two-year election period.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2431, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2431, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair

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CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair

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BRIAN KANNO, Co-Chair

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DONNA MERCADO KIM, Co-Chair

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BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Co-Chair