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UPDATED 10:42 a.m., 3/21/2013

Hawaii senators took action this week to advance bills that boost campaign spending transparency and improve voter turnout. But the biggest surprise came when they cut themselves out of plan to create a public funding program for legislative candidates starting in 2016.

The Judiciary and Labor Committee, chaired by Sen. Clayton Hee, amended so the publicly funded elections program would only apply to state House races.

Even in its “half a bite” form, as Hee put it, the legislation faces a tough fiscal test in the Ways and Means Committee.

Hee said his committee is not inclined to agree to any specific plan until the financing can be defended.

Even strong advocates for public financing of campaigns acknowledged Wednesday that the funding question remains unanswered.

“What is a challenge for all of us is we don’t know how many people would respond to this opportunity,” said Janet Mason of the . “So we can’t really expect the money committees like Ways and Means to give a blank check.”

She said limiting it to the House races would create more opportunities for candidates to take advantage of the public funding option than if it were just the Senate. Preferably, both chambers would be included but Mason said it would still be a “terrific start.”

UPDATED Kory Payne, executive director of , a nonprofit that has been working on the bill and pushing it since its inception, said Thursday that there are solid estimates of how much it would cost.

He said under the very improbable situation in which two candidates in every Senate and House race maxed out their allowed spending, it would cost $5 million annually. For just the House, the cost is estimated at $2.5 million. But more realistically, he said it will probably cost closer to $750,000 annually.

Hee commanded the hearing Tuesday, limiting the testimony to those against the bill or who had comments on the funding concern. With most people overwhelmingly in support, he said he didn’t want to debate the efficacy of the program.

“Until the financing numbers can be shown, this measure is somewhat in limbo,” Hee said. “Although if it doesn’t move out this year, we’ll certainly take it up next year.”

He noted that the amendment to limit the program to the House was based on a recommendation from . Payne said Thursday that Voter Owned Hawaii did not suggest the amendment.

“We’re disappointed the Senate took out Senate races from this bill but we’re still counting on House members to support it,” Payne said.

Hee said he decided to move HB 1481 forward in deference to his fellow committee member, Sen. Les Ihara, who made no comments during the hearing.

Who Paid for Your Political Ad?

A bill that would help residents keep better track of campaign money cleared the Judiciary and Labor Committee after the attorney general’s office highlighted a loophole that undermined the original intent.

originally required noncandidate committees — super PACs — to identify their three biggest contributors in advertisements. But an amendment in the House changed it to let them pick just one of the top donors.

Deputy AG Deirdre Marie-Iha said the bill may not completely achieve its objective because it would allow a super PAC to structure its financing in a way that would sidestep the intent of the provision.

“For example, if a super PAC had three large contributors — one who donated $15,000, one of $1 million and one of $2 million — as currently structured in the bill before you, a super PAC could comply with this provision by disclosing only the $15,000 contributor in their advertisement,” she said.

The committee unanimously voted to close the loophole by returning the provision to its original form.

“We think this would really help the public understand who is paying for political ads,” Mason said. “With Citizens United out there, disclosure is the best tool that we’ve got for reforming how campaigns are financed.”

The bill, which also expands how much campaign spending information must be included on the state’s , heads to the Ways and Means Committee next.

Let’s Make It Easier to Vote

One of the League of Women Voters’ top priorities, , sailed through the Judiciary and Labor Committee. It would let residents register to vote the same day as the election instead of 30 days in advance.

Legislators said the law would go into effect for the 2016 election, giving county clerks time to prepare.

The heads of the county elections divisions have said they are concerned the Legislature won’t give them the resources they need to implement the law should the bill pass.

The City and County of Honolulu estimates the initial startup and cost for a primary and general election would be more than $145,000.

“There’s lots of evidence that providing same-day registration improves voter turnout,” Mason said. “We’re really excited about this modernization piece. We live in this beautiful, wonderful state but we have a democracy problem with at least 40 to 45 percent of people not voting.”

Hee said limiting the same-day voter registration to absentee and walk-ins only will give counties “absolute control” over same-day registrations.

The state Office of Elections supports the bill, too. Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago said there are built-in checks and balances to prevent voter fraud, which has come up as a concern in the past.

“The right to challenge a voter’s registration safeguards the integrity of the election process by ensuring that only qualified individuals are allowed to register and vote,” he said in Tuesday.

The bill heads to Ways and Means next.

Of the five campaign spending and elections-related bills the Judiciary and Labor Committee heard Tuesday, it only shelved one.

But Hee said the decision to defer was based on his strong sense that similar legislation to improve candidate reporting requirements would continue to move forward through .

The committee decided to wait to take action on a proposed constitutional amendment related to candidate residency requirements until Thursday. Hee said he planned to meet with the AG’s office Wednesday to improve the language in .

As the bill stands, voters would be asked if they want to change the constitution to require candidates for state Senate and House seats to live in the legislative district they want to represent for at least a year prior to the next election.

Ihara said there’s more good-government bills moving forward this legislation session than he’s seen since 1994.

“On both the House and Senate sides, there’s an interest and an openness to try to improve our democracy in a number of ways,” he said Wednesday. “It’s dramatic.”