Several Hawaiʻi lawmakers are calling for an emergency special session to address corrupt campaign finance amid the ongoing bribery scandals involving Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke.
Hawaiʻi's Good Government Caucus, made up of members from both chambers and both parties, met Thursday at the state capitol and online to urge the Legislature to act now and take a stand against pay-to-play activity.
The session would focus on closing the contractor loophole, which currently bans lawmakers from accepting donations from government contractors, but leaves a door open for donations from the contractor’s employees, family members and officers.
Rep. Kanani Souza, one of the co-convenors of the caucus along with Rep. Della Au Belatti, said the recent indictments of Luke and four others should be a wake-up call for lawmakers.
“It's not hard to call a special session — we just have to have the support, and that's what we're trying to do here is to put it out to the community, rally up that support, and get things done,” Souza said. “The public right now is looking for leadership, and I think that that's what we're trying to do, is be the voice, continue to speak up where others might feel the need to be silent, and really create that change that the public is expecting.”
Several clean election bills were introduced this past legislative session, and Gov. Josh Green later signed a notable bill into law that places restrictions on corporations’ political spending activities.
Two bills this session would have addressed the contractor loophole, but both died before conference. Belatti and Sen. Karl Rhodes explained that the legislation that could be crafted during the special session could build off of the failed bills.
“From my view, given what was provided by the Senate and what was provided by the House, we are really close on this,” Belatti said. “Fundraising starts for the next election cycle the day after the elections. If we want to end the pay-to-play culture now to affect the future elections, we need to enact legislation now.”
Special sessions can be called by the governor or by a two-thirds vote of both chambers and can last up to 30 days. Belatti stated that the work the caucus is advocating for could be taken care of in just a few days. She added that this would potentially happen in August, September or October, but she wants to ensure this is done before the general election on Nov. 3.
