Hawaii Legislators Consider Law Banning Political Donations from Contractors
TL/DR –
Hawaii lawmakers are working on legislation to ban political donations from people who win government contracts. House Bill 371 seeks to ban donations from state and county contractors, their officers, and immediate family members, and also applies to officers of nonprofits receiving state and county grants. Points still to be agreed upon include how contractors and nonprofits will report their officers and close family members and whether the information will be kept secret from the public.
Legislators Push to Outlaw Political Donations from Government Contractors
Key supporters of a new legislation are working to prohibit political contributions from individuals who secure government contracts. However, certain details still require being ironed out by lawmakers during a conference committee, such as how disclosure of contractor and nonprofit officer details will be handled.
House Bill 371 restricts donations from state and county contractors, their officers, and family members. These constraints would apply to nonprofit officers receiving state and county grants as well.
An important step in restricting pay-to-play politics in Hawaiʻi, the bill gained traction following a Civil Beat/New York Times investigation that revealed 20% of all campaign contributions since 2006 came from contractors.
Privacy Concerns
The current bill draft suggests officer information will only be accessible to candidates via a Campaign Spending Commission-maintained page. Its approach deviates from the House draft, which proposed that officer information be posted on the commission’s website.
Sen. Karl Rhoads, Judiciary Committee chairman, expressed concerns about privacy, particularly for those who have not made any contributions. He suggested Public availability of data could discourage potential volunteers or result in privacy violations.
Challenges in Enforcement
While Hawaiʻi lacks a centralized database for contracts and contractors, the Campaign Spending Commission is tasked with consolidating all necessary information from various state and county agencies responsible for issuing contracts.
Contractors could face contract termination if they violate the proposed conditions – such as making campaign donations. However, enforcing these provisions presents a considerable challenge, according to commission executive director Kristin Izumi-Nitao.
Implications on Nonprofit Contributions
Impacts of the new law extend to state and county grant recipients, significantly affecting nonprofits reliant on federal funding. The Hawaiʻi Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations expressed concerns that the ban discourages volunteerism, but agreed that paid nonprofit executives should be covered under the campaign contribution ban due to inherent conflicts of interest.
Final negotiations on HB 371 are pending in a conference committee involving House and Senate members. The deadline to finalize all bills is April 25.
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