Finish The Job: Legislators Making Progress On Elections, Government Ethics
Dozens of bills introduced by the state House and Senate augur well for major improvements if lawmakers can actually seal the deals.
Leaders in the Hawaii House of Representatives called a press conference last week to boast of a package of more than a dozen bills dedicated to reforming ethics and elections. The measures target the problems of money in politics, voter apathy and public corruption.
鈥淓ven if a handful of these bills end up moving this year, it still represents the single largest reform in Hawaii voting and elections and transparency and campaign finance policy in perhaps a generation,鈥 said Chris Lee, chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Lee is correct that an unusually large slate of reform legislation is still alive this session at the Capitol. Should a bulk of the measures ultimately pass and head to Gov. David Ige for his signatures, they could make a real difference.
We support the measures identified by the House, but also others in that chamber as well as in the Senate.
The bills would require in close elections, enact statewide next year, require when getting driver鈥檚 licenses and identification cards, set up a for county election candidates, in political activities by state employees and officers, increase fines for聽 committed by noncandidate committees and in the ban on contributions by state and county contractors.
But wait 鈥 there鈥檚 more.
Other bills would forbid former legislators and executive branch employees from for two years after they leave those jobs, force governors and mayors to reject while serving, require candidates for those offices and president and vice president to disclose their and add more campaign spending to improve transparency.
A hearing in the House is already scheduled next week on a Senate bill to have for special federal elections and vacant county council seats. It would allow voters to identify their preferred candidates by a numerical system so that the ultimate winning candidate has the broadest electoral support.
A House bill would apply the ranked choice method to all , which makes sense, as primary elections in Hawaii are usually more significant than the general elections because of one-party dominance.
Here鈥檚 another good bill that has passed the Senate and now awaits House consideration: making public the of state agency executive directors. Such a law already applies to state elected offices and a host of administrative positions and members of boards and commissions.
Many of these ideas were inspired by recent elections and the sad fact that voter turnout is awful in Hawaii. The measures come as the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed HR 1, a mammoth 鈥減olitical money, ethics and voting overhaul鈥 that now heads to the U.S. Senate, as .
鈥淭he bill includes provisions to enable automatic voter registration, strengthen resources to stave off foreign threats on elections and make Election Day a national holiday for federal workers,鈥 .
Unlike HR 1, however, which passed the Democratic-controlled U.S. House on a party-line vote and is not expected to be acted on in the Republican-controlled Senate, the reform bills at the Hawaii Legislature have attracted bipartisan support. It helps that few of the measures require more money from the state.
Approval of the election and ethics reform bills is the right thing to do, and not just “a handful” of them. To build on Lee鈥檚 view, their enactment into law would be a major highlight of the 2019 Legislature and show serious devotion to improving state government.
