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Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2021

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The Sunshine Editorial Board

The members of Civil Beat’s editorial board focused on ‘Let The Sunshine In’ are Patti Epler, Chad Blair and Richard Wiens.


Dozens of bills were introduced this year at the Hawaii Legislature focused on improving government ethics, transparency, accountability, elections and operations. Here’s the final tally.

May 4 was the final day of the 2023 legislative session. And July 11 was the last day for Gov. Josh Green to sign, veto or let bills become law without his signature.

We have been tracking the proposals from the House as well as dozens of other “sunshine” bills, most of them — but not all — intended to restore public trust in government.

Bill numbers and companion measures, titles and descriptions, the final status of the bills and the primary committee chair referrals and contacts are provided below.

This page is broken into three sections: the measures that came from the so-called Foley commission, the blue-ribbon panel of experts led by retired Judge Dan Foley; dozens of other bills coming from lawmakers and agencies such as the Hawaii State Ethics Commission and the Campaign Spending Commission; and the bills that are in all likelihood dead — “deferred” or otherwise — for the 2023 session.

Of note: Because this year is the first year of a biennial session, in theory any bills that died carry over into the 2024 session that begins in January. Legislative leaders said they would review some of the legislation during the interim to consider what should be taken up next year in terms of sunshine.

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Use the “Details” tab that opens a new page with additional information, including key lawmakers to contact about the bill, and links to the Legislature’s website. Updates to all bills are made on a regular basis.

If you see any bill that you think should be included in this list — or anything else we can be shining a light on — please email us at sunshine@civilbeat.org.

There were 31 legislative proposals and two resolutions recommended by the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct. According to a report from the Legislature, 20 of them “were addressed fully by Legislature and two were partially addressed. Of the 11 that were not addressed by the Legislature, six were passed by both the House and Senate but died in conference, one was not approved by the House, two can be implemented at the discretion of committee chairs, one was addressed through changes to the House Rules, and one was determined to be the responsibility of the counties.”

Below is the status of the remaining Foley commission bills that were addressed during the last weeks of session:

Here’s the status of other sunshine bills proposed for the 2023 legislative session:

And here’s the graveyard of bills that are dead for this year barring an unexpected revival:


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About the Author

The Sunshine Editorial Board

The members of Civil Beat’s editorial board focused on ‘Let The Sunshine In’ are Patti Epler, Chad Blair and Richard Wiens.


Latest Comments (0)

Thanks for the comprehensive list. It would help to note for each bill whether its companion or a similar bill passed.

BusRider33 · 1 year ago

That's quite a graveyard the legislature dug.

WhatMeWorry · 1 year ago

Mahalo Civil Beat for its sustained and outstanding coverage of sunshine bills in the last legislative session. By my count, 20 of 28 bills recommended by the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct passed in some form. It is difficult to track because Commission bills were jointly recommended and introduced by the Ethics and Campaign Spending Commissions and the law enforcement coalition bills. So, some Commission bills labeled dead actually passed through the other Commission or coalition bills. For example, three Commission bills on fraud, false statements and false claims were combined under one bill from the law enforcement coalition and enacted into law.I encourage all Civil Beat readers, regardless of their assessments of progress in the last session, to stay engaged and not give up in making our government more transparent and accountable. Together we can make a difference.

judgefoley · 1 year ago

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