Latest news with #HB412
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Government reform bills move ahead at Hawaii Legislature
JAMM AQUINO / JAN. 15 'Clean government ' bills aimed at reform continue to move through the Legislature, which adjourns May 1. Hawaii lawmakers and guests bide time in the Senate chamber prior to the opening of the 33rd state Legislature at the state Capitol. JAMM AQUINO / JAN. 15 'Clean government ' bills aimed at reform continue to move through the Legislature, which adjourns May 1. Hawaii lawmakers and guests bide time in the Senate chamber prior to the opening of the 33rd state Legislature at the state Capitol. Bills aimed at clamping down on campaign contributions from government contractors while separately providing more public money to run for political office remain alive following a key Senate committee hearing Tuesday, joining other bills aimed at government reform that continue to move through the Legislature. The latest version of House Bill 371 would make it illegal for state and county contractors—and their immediate family members—from making campaign contributions while their companies are under contract for county or state projects. It also would require the names of any officers or their immediate family members to be disclosed in certain circumstances. The state Senate Ways and Committee on Tuesday also passed out HB 370, which would increase the amount of so-called partial public campaign funding available to county and state candidates. Proponents argue that candidates who qualify for public campaign financing would be less obligated to private donors—and might be more likely to run for office if they don't have to solicit donations. The amount of public campaign funds that candidates could receive has not changed since 1995, according to HB 370. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. It would increase the amount of eligible public funding available for candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, county mayors, state legislators, County Council and county prosecutors far less dramatically than other bills that have died this session. HB 69, which the Senate Ways and Means Committee also passed Tuesday, would require that campaign contributions over $100 from a single donor during any election cycle be returned or given to Hawaii's election campaign fund. Other so-called 'clean government ' bills that remain alive this legislative session include :—The latest version of HB 412, which would void state contracts if there are violations of state lobbying laws. It would also expand the definition of lobbying to include communications with 'high-level government officials regarding procurement decisions.' The Senate Judiciary Committee passed it out March 25.—Senate Bill 289 would create a uniform fine schedule for common violations of the state Ethics Code and Lobbyist Law, which the state Ethics Commission hopes will streamline and shorten the process of paying fines, similar to traffic fines. It's been sent to Gov. Josh Green for his possible signature, along with the latest version of HB 413, which would make it illegal for lobbyists to make campaign contributions during legislative sessions.—SB 1202 would allow campaign funds to be used for a candidate's child care and 'vital household dependent care costs under certain conditions.' The House Finance Committee approved it Monday. The bills are part of the renewed effort this legislative session to further reform county and state political activity and campaign contributions and bring more transparency to the relationships between donors and political candidates following a lull in 2024 when the Legislature focused on helping Maui survivors recover from the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires, which decimated Lahaina and killed 102 people. Before, in 2022, the Legislature faced enormous pressure to respond to the federal guilty pleas of former Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and then-Rep. Ty T.J. Cullen. English and Cullen, both Democrats, admitted accepting cash, casino chips, Las Vegas hotel rooms and dinners in exchange for influencing legislation to benefit a company involved in publicly financed cesspool conversion projects. In response, then-House Speaker Scott Saiki created the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct, led by retired Intermediate Court of Appeals Chief Judge Dan Foley, which made 28 recommendations that resulted in 20 bills becoming law in 2023. But public outrage continued March 4 when former Corporation Counsel Donna Yuk Lan Leong and ex-Honolulu Police Commission Chair Max John Sword pleaded guilty in federal court to a single federal misdemeanor for illegally pushing a $250, 000 payout to former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha. Roy Keiji Amemiya, who had been managing director under then-Mayor Kirk Caldwell, on the same day entered a deferred-prosecution agreement for his role in the conspiracy. Kealoha had been convicted in 2022 by a federal jury along with his ex-wife, former Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha. They had conspired to frame Katherine Kealoha's uncle for a crime he did not commit in order to cover up an elaborate scheme to rob her grandmother out of a reverse mortgage on her home that Katherine had arranged in order to bankroll the couple's lavish lifestyle. Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro and prominent Hawaii businessman Dennis Mitsunaga and four Mitsu naga &Associates executives then went on trial in federal court in what prosecutors alleged amounted to a pay-to-prosecute corruption scheme. A jury found them all found not guilty in May.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: Utah Legislature's attack on judiciary is part of a dangerous trend to violate checks and balances
Utah's judicial system is under attack. A series of bills seeks to expand the power of government, weaken the ability of everyday Utahns to challenge government overreach and stretch thin our state's legal norms. In proposing these bills, some members of the Utah Legislature appear all too ready to participate in the newest political trend — caring little for future ramifications and delighting in chipping away at the checks and balances of the judicial branch. No matter how trendy, these efforts must be opposed. SB203 significantly limits how groups can challenge harmful laws passed by the legislative branch. SJR9 needlessly narrows the window for plaintiffs to file suit to challenge an unconstitutional law, while SB204 creates special rules that make it easier for the Legislature to appeal a ruling against them. HB412 would eliminate a requirement that boards and commissions with oversight of the judiciary be bipartisan. HB512 and HB451 would increase opportunities for politicians to add their own nominees to the judiciary and make retention of qualified judges on the bench more difficult for voters, unnecessarily introducing party politics into and elevating the voices of partisan lawmakers in the judicial retention process. SB296 would inexplicably insert both the executive and legislative branches into the affairs of the Utah Supreme Court, encouraging more, rather than less, political interference into a branch of government that should be independent. So many bills with a direct impact on the judiciary and its role in limiting legislative power have been proposed this session, it is difficult to view it as a coincidence. Coordinated effort or not, the result is a slicing away of one check or balance after another that, when taken together, will blunt the protections of Utah's constitution. Several of the preceding bills are on such shaky constitutional ground that they will almost certainly face lengthy legal challenges. These legal battles will cost taxpayers money unnecessarily, and, even if the laws survive challenge, none of these bills will have an upside for anyone living in the Beehive State beyond elected officials looking to expand their influence on judges, avoid accountability or skirt our state's constitution. Alarmingly, these bills are not locally driven responses to isolated policies in need of fixing. Instead, they appear to be targeted retaliation against previous efforts by Utahns to assert their constitutional rights and oppose government overreach. After Utah courts acted to protect the people's rights, the Legislature has responded by attempting to insulate themselves from anyone who would check their power. And the backlash is not subtle. These bills, taken together, would result in weakening the judiciary's ability to check the executive and legislative power balance, opening the door for lawmakers to more easily pass unconstitutional and unpopular laws with no consequences. The Utah State Bar has rightly come out in opposition to the majority of these proposed bills, and lawyers and non-lawyers in the state should share its concern. More critically, members of the Utah Legislature should remember that the job they have been elected to do is to preserve the power of the people, not increase their own. We must resist this political trend of expanding one branch of government at the expense of the judicial branch within the borders of our own state or it will become the norm. The norm will numb us, resulting in a system and set of laws biased toward a select few. Judicial norms and constitutional processes have never been flashy or trendy — but that is exactly why they must be preserved; these norms and processes will preserve us and our state. This latest power grab by the Legislature needs checking now and consistently until this trend reverses and the critical checks and balances of our state government are respected once again.
