Lawmakers preparing
fund-raising limits

But some legislators say the
Senate bills do not go as far
as the House proposal

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By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

State lawmakers are preparing new limits on fund raising for political campaigns, but some are saying the bills in the Senate do not go far enough.

The House has moved a bill (HB2844) to prohibit direct contributions from corporations and labor unions and also forbid anyone with a state or county contract from making a campaign contribution. The bill has the support of both Campaign Spending Commission Executive Director Robert Watada and the citizen lobbying group Common Cause.

Three Senate committees, however, deleted the provision in SB2431 forbidding state or county contractors from giving money to politicians.

Senate Vice President Colleen Hanabusa, who had introduced the bill, said she did not agree with the changes made yesterday.

"It is a concern that it has been taken out. That is a problem," Hanabusa (D, Waianae) said.

In the House, Rep. Brian Schatz (D, Makiki), who is pushing the bill, said the Senate's action was a positive step but is only "50 or 60 percent of what we need to do as a Legislature."

Watada said that "any provision which would prohibit government contractors from making contributions to elected officials who hold the purse strings would receive overwhelming support from the construction industry."

"Companies, officers, families and close family friends go to extraordinary lengths to funnel money to the chosen candidate," Watada continued.

"They cheat, they will miss payroll to their employees and lay off employees, but they will not miss a requirement to give generously and often. ... The system is not healthy," Watada said.

Sen. Brian Kanno, Judiciary Committee chairman, explained that the Senate was concerned that the campaign expense system must be "transparent" so that the public could easily find out who was making campaign contributions.

"This bill represents real progress, and we are making a very earnest attempt to make the system clearer to the public," Kanno said.

The Senate bill originally had the support of Kanno (D, Ewa Beach-Makakilo) and Sens. Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu) and Donna Mercado Kim, (D, Ft. Shafter-Aiea), who lead the Transportation and Government Affairs Committee and the Tourism and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

Yesterday however, Kanno, Kawamoto and Kim led the votes to change the bill to scrap the contractor provision.

Dan Chun, representing the American Institute of Architects, said that government contracts represent 20 percent of the business done by local architects.

He said it would be better to reform the state and county requirements for awarding contracts instead of trying to limit contributions.

"Ever tightening the limits has only served to drive contributions underground," Chun said.

Watada said he did not think Chun's opinion was representative.

"I know one architect, who we interviewed, who felt he has been extorted by the system," Watada said.

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