The state House plans to vote Thursday to create a new panel of experts that will review state ethics and campaign finance laws following guilty pleas this week by two former state lawmakers in connection with a federal corruption probe.
House Speaker Scott Saiki also announced Wednesday that lawmakers will reopen the State Capitol to the public on March 7. The Capitol has been closed since March 2020 after state Sen. Clarence Nishihara tested positive for Covid-19.
To enter the building, House members, staff and the public will be required to follow the state vaccination policy that requires proof of full Covid-19 vaccination or a negative test result that is no more than 72 hours old.
Senate President Ron Kouchi later released a written statement saying the Senate had not been consulted about the reopening of the Capitol before before Saiki made his announcement. The Senate “will await official word” from state Comptroller Curt Otaguro on the opening date, Kouchi wrote.
Lawmakers have clearly been shaken by the convictions of former Senate Democratic Majority Leader J. Kalani English and former House Finance Committee Vice Chairman Ty Cullen, who both pleaded guilty Tuesday to accepting bribes to benefit a wastewater company.
The House will also vote on House Resolution 9, which would create the “Commission to Increase Standards of Conduct” to recommend ways to improve current ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance laws and standards of conduct regulations, according to an announcement by House Democrats on Wednesday.
The commission will be led by retired Intermediate Court of Appeals Judge Daniel Foley as chairman, and will include Robert Harris, who is executive director of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, and Kristin Izumi-Nitao, who is executive director of the state Campaign Spending Commission.
Also on the panel will be Sandy Ma, executive director of Common Cause Hawaii; former Republican state Rep. Barbara Marumoto; Janet Mason of the League of Women Voters-Hawaii; and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii Florence Nakakuni.
Saiki said the commission will be asked to provide interim recommendations by March 31 — which would allow lawmakers enough time to act on at least some issues this year — and final recommendations by Dec. 1.
“I know there’s going to be criticism of yet another commission, but it will be asked to evaluate our ethics laws, our campaign spending laws and standard of conduct to see what needs to be improved,” Saiki said in an interview. “It’s pretty broad.”
The reports from the commission should make recommendations on “how to improve these laws, whether it’s through clarification of the standards, or enhancing penalties. How do you use these laws to deter conduct? There are a lot of questions they will need to vet.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if they find that we have a lot of laws in place now that should be covering and deterring this kind of conduct. If that’s the case, how do you use these laws to deter that conduct?” he said.
Saiki said the plan for the new commission was well received by the House Democratic caucus in a closed-door meeting Wednesday, adding, “The House members want to take action while we are in regular session, and they see that this commission is one way that we can take some action.”
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