“Just the facts ma’am.” That’s the only way to write about the ugly death of HB371.
Below are those facts, sourced from the public record at http://www.captiol.hawaii.gov
If passed into law, HB371 would have extended the ban on campaign contributions from government contractors to include company officers and family members. It was described by good government advocates as a critically important measure needed to fight corruption.
But HB371 was not passed into law. It was, instead, killed behind closed doors by Senate President Ron Kouchi, House Speaker Nadine Nakamura, Senate Ways and Means (WAM) Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, and House Finance Chair Kyle Yamashita.
These four Democrats are the most influential legislators in state government. They held no public meetings to discuss the reasons behind their decision-making. They made their decisions in private; they discussed these decisions with the Conference Committee in private; and the Conference Committee then announced those decisions to the public.
These are facts — not speculation, not opinion, and not hyperbole.
According to the Campaign Spending Commission, it’s common for government contractors to get around the existing campaign contribution ban by having those persons connected to the contractor make political contributions.
Civil Beat called House Bill 371, “arguably the biggest reform measure of the session” The bill sailed through the House and Senate with unanimous votes of support – both in committee and on the floor.
And 99 percent of testimony was in support of HB371. Only one person testified in opposition, citing “freedom of speech” concerns.
Not one Senator or Representative ever voted in opposition.
The first indication there could be a “problem” occurred on April 22, just prior to the naming of “conferees” to sit on the House Conference Committee. That’s when House Speaker Nakamura “re-referred” the now amended bill, HB371SD1 to House Finance.
This move ensured that House Finance would have a Conference Committee vote – even though the measure had no direct budget impact, and the Finance Committee would hold no hearings.
The Conference Committee is responsible for “working out the differences” between the Senate and House amended versions of the bill.
When the Joint Conference Committee met on April 22, House Judiciary Chair David Tarnas announced that “leadership was now involved,” the measure would likely thus be “weakened,” and the Committee must await direction from “leadership” (House Speaker Nakamura). It’s important to note that the House Speaker is also an ex officio member of the Judiciary Committee, per House Rules.
At this same meeting, Senate Judiciary Chair Senator Karl Rhoads acknowledged he’d received similar information from Senate Leadership — Senate President Kouchi.
On April 25, the Conference Committee reconvened. The two chairs announced that “leadership” had proposed significant amendments that weakened the bill, and they’d been unable to receive a “release” from House Finance or Senate WAM. Therefore, the bill would be deferred and is now dead.
HB371 did not require any funding whatsoever, nor did the subsequent and final amended version HB371HD1SD1.
Yet both Representative Yamashita (Chair of House Finance) and Senator Dela Cruz (Chair of WAM) refused to “release” the bill. As of this writing, neither have yet made any on-the-record statements as to their reasoning.
Likewise, neither Senate President Kouchi nor House Speaker Nakamura have issued any public statements about the rationale for their last-minute opposition.
HB371HD1SD1 was killed in the dark and nobody’s talking.
The discussion, deliberation and decision-making was done in secret, behind closed doors via private “serial communications,” and only announced publicly after it was a done deal.
Hawaii Democrats can, and must do better. How can we push back effectively against the abuse of power and trampling of the democratic process now occurring in Washington, D.C., when here at home on Beretania Street, the same thing is occurring?
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Gary Hooser served eight years in the state Senate, where he was majority leader. He also served for eight years on the Kauai County Council. He presently writes on Hawaii Policy and Politics at www.garyhooser.blog.
