STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2510

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2029

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2029 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to strengthen the enforcement of state campaign finance laws.

 

     More specifically, this measure amends the campaign finance law regarding administrative fines to:

 

     (1)  Clarify that the fines that the Campaign Spending Commission may assess against corporations, organizations, associations, labor unions, and their respective directors, officers, and agents may also be assessed against all persons who are not individuals and their directors, officers, and agents;

 

     (2)  Increase the maximum fine that the Commission may assess against a violator who is a person other than an individual from $1,000 to $5,000, or an amount equivalent to three times the amount of an unlawful contribution or expenditure;

 

     (3)  Authorize the Commission, in addition to the assessment of an administrative fine, to order a violator of state campaign finance laws to pay for costs incurred by the Commission due to the violation, including but not limited to the cost of investigative services; and

 

     (4)  Require that costs recovered by the Commission be deposited in the Hawaii election campaign fund.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Campaign Spending Commission, Common Cause Hawaii, and the League of Women Voters.

 

     Your Committee finds that increased fines against persons who are not individuals are necessary in the Campaign Spending Commission's enforcement cases against independent expenditure committees and other entities.  In addition, as three times the amount of an unlawful contribution or expenditure may be imposed against violators who are individuals, it is equitable to extend this penalty to other violators.  Your Committee further finds that the recovery of costs from violators and the deposit of those recovered costs into the Hawaii election campaign fund will decrease the fiscal burden that thorough investigations impose on the fund. 

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2029 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair