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Hawaii needs to put
more teeth into its
anti-bribery law

Hawaii's bribery law is far too weak and far too lenient. A public servant who accepts, for example, a million-dollar bribe faces only five years in jail -- the same sentence faced by someone who shoplifts $301. We have no felony criminal statute that prohibits large monetary "gifts" to a public servant after an official act that benefits the giver, such as a legislative vote or the awarding of a contract. And we have no felony statute that prohibits large "gifts" from the regulated to regulators.

For the past three legislative sessions, the administration and the Hawaii Law Enforcement Coalition (the attorney general, the four county prosecutors, the four county police chiefs and the U.S. attorney) have asked the Legislature to fix Hawaii's bribery law because it is nothing short of a disgrace. We want the current maximum bribery penalty increased from five to 10 years, and we want the holes in the current law filled with two new felony provisions.

In 2004, the state Senate passed our bill 25 to 0 -- but in the state House, the bill never even made it out of committee. Toward the end of the 2004 session, the House minority made a motion to bring the Senate bill to the House floor for a vote, but this was voted down overwhelmingly. This year, the House Judiciary Committee killed the bill after a hearing. The questions at the hearing indicated that some representatives thought the gift portion of the bill was not inclusive enough (two years ago some House members complained it was too strict). But of course, even if that were true, it couldn't possibly be a reason to kill the other two parts of the bill, or even a reason to kill the gift part (as opposed to amending it).

The only conclusion we can draw is that many in the state House believe that our very lenient bribery law is just fine, and that it is a good thing that Hawaii is such a bribe-friendly state. We just can't figure exactly why they feel that way.

The House can still pass our bribery bill -- House Bill 568 -- this year, but only if one-third of the House votes to recall the bill from the Judiciary Committee, and a majority of the House votes to pass it. If you want the House to do this, you can call Speaker of the House Calvin Say at 586-6100, or House Judiciary Committee Chair Sylvia Luke at 586-8530. Hawaii's citizens may also want to ask their own state House representatives two questions: (1) Are you pleased that Hawaii has such a weak bribery law, and (2) if not, what are you willing to do about it? Hawaii's famous "aloha" should not extend to having such lenient laws dealing with corrupt public officials.