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Open House: The Hawaii Legislature is now in its conference committee phase where senators and representatives try to patch up their respective disagreements in dozens of bills. It can be a very difficult time for the public to understand what’s happening because most of the heavy lifting is done behind closed doors and proposed drafts are rarely posted online.

This week, however, the House took a step to lift the veil of secrecy. Speaker Scott Saiki informed all members via memo that when a conference committee is set to vote on a bill in conference committee, the lead House chair is required “to clearly summarize the purpose and content” of the bill before the vote is taken.

The disclosure requirement applies to both House and Senate bills. If the Senate lead chair does not summarize the content of an agreed-upon Senate bill prior to the vote, “then the House lead chair must do so.”

The reason for the procedural change, Saiki wrote, “is to reasonably inform” the conference committee conferees and the general public of the content of the measure being voted on.

The change allows some exceptions. The chair of the House Finance Committee, for instance, is not required to restate all the amendments to the budget bill prior to the conference committee vote. That’s understandable, as (which was still being negotiated as of Thursday afternoon) is currently more than 28,000 words long.

Whether Senate chairs will do the same as the House is unclear. Saiki copied the memo to Senate President Ron Kouchi, but Senate spokespeople did not respond to inquiries from The Blog.

Thanks for reading Civil Beat: The Hawaii State Ethics Commission recently introduced a new feature to its meeting agendas where commissioners discuss media reports about ethics or the commission since their last meeting.

On Wednesday, commissioners and staff discussed “Inside the Late-Night Parties Where Hawaii Politicians Raked In Money,” a story reported by Civil Beat and the New York Times. The extensively researched piece lays out how state contractors have given tens of millions of dollars to elected officials’ political campaigns in the last decade.

“I would urge everyone to read today’s Civil Beat article and take a look at where there might be an area that we should intervene or at least support legislation that could address the problems,” said Commissioner Cynthia Thielen, a former legislator, who added that she was very troubled by the report.

Thielen’s colleagues agreed and instructed the commission’s executive director Robert Harris to send copies of the story to staff. And Commission Chair Wesley Fong asked Harris to put the story and possible legislative solutions to the problems it raised on the commission’s agenda next month.

“That sounds wonderful,” Harris replied.

The article also reports that lawmakers have for years killed bills that would have prohibited company officers, executives and their family members from contributing to campaigns during the life of the contract. A similar bill didn’t even get a hearing this year.

Still raking it in: Three of Hawaii’s four congressional delegation members are up for reelection this year but none of them face a serious competitor, at least not yet. And each of them continues to steadily build their campaign war chests.

The latest filings with the Federal Election Commission show:

has $2 million in cash on hand, having pulled in $357,000 during the first three months of the year. Donor of note: Musician Keola Beamer of Lahaina, who added $5 to the $240 he previously contributed.

has $761,000 in cash, helped by donations totaling $115,000. Donors of note: political action committees for Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Air Group, which each ponied up $2,500.

And , who has about $381,000 in cash and pulled in $176,000 this past quarter. Donor of note: Actor George Takei of Los Angeles, who chipped in $500.

Speaking of Ed and Jill: Hawaii historically favors Democrats in D.C., but that doesn’t mean they agree on every issue.

While Reps. Case and Tokuda agreed earlier this week to pass the Hold Iranian Leaders Accountable Act of 2023 and the Strengthening Tools to Counter the Use of Human Shields Act, they split over a House resolution titled “Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the slogan, ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ is antisemitic and its use must be condemned.”

The with a majority of Democrats and Republicans, but not with Tokuda’s vote. She and 42 other Dems and one GOPer rejected the reso.

And speaking of Mazie: This week, the senator celebrated the release of the Patsy Takemoto Mink quarter honoring the late Hawaii congresswoman and champion of Title IX legislation. Case and Tokuda were on hand as well.

That’s Patsy’s daughter Gwendolyn standing next to Rep. Nancy Pelosi in the photo below and in the photo at the top of our page.

Today, in the Pelosi Caucus Room we honored Patsy Mink and her legacy—including her work to advance gender equity through Title IX, and celebrated the 2024 Patsy Mink quarter.

I hope Patsy Mink's quarter will serve as a reminder for women and girls that anything is possible.

— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono)