Speaker appoints members of the House Ethics Committee

The newly formed House Ethics Committee is a bi-partisan committee made up of three members of the majority and three members of the minority. They are:

Rep. Kirk Caldwell - Majority Leader, Rep. Blake Oshiro - Majority Floor Leader, Rep. Pono Chong - Vice Speaker, Rep. Lynn Finnegan - Minority Leader, Rep. Colleen Meyer - Minority Floor Leader, and Rep. Barbara Marumoto.

WHT article on proposed changes to ethics rules

An article in the West Hawaii Today covers yesterday's meeting of the interim Standards of Conduct Committee and the several revisions to House ethics rules its members are considering:

The bipartisan Interim Task Force on Standards of Conduct plans to finalize the rules Oct. 23 after passing them to colleagues for feedback. The rules would then be voted on during the first day of the 2008 legislative session.

"I think this is a major step forward," said House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, D-Manoa. "This is a huge victory. Conflicts of interest, for example, have never before been defined in House rules."

Unlike bills, House rules don't have to go to the Senate or the governor for approval.The new rules differ from the current ones primarily in the areas of conflicts of interest and the acceptance of honoraria, or compensation, for speaking engagements. They also set up a Standards of Conduct Committee that is unique in that it will be composed of three members each from the majority and minority parties instead of having more majority members like other committees.

New Ethics rules coming along

A permanent committee comprised of equal parts majority and minority members appointed by the Speaker is one of several suggested changes to the House Standards of Conduct rules being drafted by an interim task force on ethics.

The Interim Task Force on Standards of Conduct, led by Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, met this morning to discuss and draft recommendations for changes to House Rule 60 (Relating to Standards of Conduct) and other changes to House rules.

According to the draft, the permanent standards of conduct committee would "investigate any member for misconduct, disorderly conduct, neglect of duty" or violation of the standards of conduct section in the Hawaii Revised Statutes. (To prevent conflict, the House would have to repeal Rule 28.3 which authorizes the Speaker to appoint a special committee to investigate any member for misconduct.)

Besides the addition of a committee, changes were made to the rules regarding honoraria and conflicts of interest and how these two things should be defined. Any changes to the House rules would be introduced next session via a House resolution.

Both the minority and majority caucus plan to review the draft before the next meeting, scheduled to be held in two weeks.

Ethics Task Force gets some expert insight

Gridlock and confidentiality of complaints were among the issues discussed yesterday by a House task force assigned to evaluate whether or not a permanent ethics committee should be set up in the House of Representatives.

The House Task Force on Standards of Conduct sat down yesterday with Professor Alan Rosenthal of the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers University, and Jack Maskell, Legislative Attorney of the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress via teleconference.

The ethics committee would tackle complaints issued against members of the House that might not fall under the jurisdiction of the state Ethics Commission. Some of the issues the task force considered yesterday were whether the ethics committee should be equal parts Democrat and Republican and how to avoid potential gridlock in that situation.

The question of confidentiality and who would be allowed to submit complaints were two concerns. Although members of the ethics committee would have to keep complaints confidential, it would be difficult to impose the same rule upon groups or individuals outside the legislature filing complaints.

Maskell and members of the task force also talked about how to handle unfair complaints lodged in the few months before an election.

Rosenthal advised that an ethics committee take a preventive, not policing role. It would be up to the House leadership to make judicious appointments to the committee, he said.

He added that about one third of ethics committees in state legislatures are joint House-Senate committees.

In the past, the House has formed special committees to investigate claims against lawmakers when they come up. House members abide by an internal code of conduct, but a permanent committee on standards of conduct would be a first.

Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, who is heading up the task force, requested that members begin drafting some wording for the measure before the next meeting on Sept. 19 at 10:00 a.m.

Mollway sees need for House Ethics Committee

Dan Mollway, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, today shared thoughts with the task force charged with determining whether the House should establish a Standards of Conduct committee and the scope of its duties. The Advertiser has a story here, and Ian Lind covers it on his blog here. Given that there is no other outside tribunal that can address the conflicts of the House, and seeing the importance of restoring and maintaining public confidence, Mollway said that such a committee is a good idea and that one is needed. The committee will meet next on September 4th at 9:00 a.m. and is scheduled to engage Alan Rosenthal, one of the country's foremost experts in legislative ethics, in a conference call. Rosenthal is a professor of public policy and political science at Rutgers.

Center for Public Integrity Ranks Hawaii Legislature #2 and Grade A

The interim task force on HR176, to establish a standards of conduct committee, is underway. The bi-partisan task force includes Kirk Caldwell, Majority Leader, as chair, and members Lynn Finnegan, Jon Riki Karamatsu, Michael Magaoay, Barbara Marumoto, Colleen Meyer, Blake Oshiro, and Kymberly Pine. The group has met twice and will reconvene on August 21st. At the August meeting, the task force is scheduled to meet with Dan Mollway, executive director of the State Ethics Commission and Dean Avi Soifer of the UH Law School.

Rep. Blake Oshiro provided the task force with informational material, including the results of a survey on public disclosure by The Center for Public Integrity, Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest. Conducted in 1999, and updated in April 2006, the 43-question survey was designed to determine whether legislators stand to gain personally from actions taken in office. Hawaii ranked as the 2nd best legislature with a grade of "A". The state of Washington ranked #1.

In the Governors Disclosure rankings, released on July 19th, Hawaii also ranked #2 behind Washington. However, Washington was the only state to receive an "A", and Hawaii received a "B".