Campaign Spending Commission

REMINDER – 1) The next report due for Candidates Running in 2012 and on the Primary Ballotis the 1st Preliminary Primary Report covering the period January 1 through June 30, 2012.  This report is due on July 12, 2012; 2) The next report due for Candidates Not Running in 2012 is the Supplemental Report covering the same period.  This report is due on July 31, 2012; 3) The next report due for Noncandidate Committees and Corporations is the Preliminary Primary Report covering the period January 1 through July 27, 2012.  This report is due on August 1, 2012.  All reports must be electronically filed on the respective filing system by 11:59 p.m. HST on the due dates noted above.  Failure to file these reports by the due dates may result in a fine.

JULY 2012 CLASS SCHEDULE

The Campaign Spending Commission announces the July 2012 class schedule.  All classes are open to the public and there is no fee to attend but a reservation is required.  The locations and dates are as follows:

Kauai – Tuesday, July 17, 2012

State Office Building
Conference Rooms A/B/C, 2nd Floor
3060 Eiwa Street, Lihue, HI

Maui – Thursday, July 19, 2012

State Office Building
Conference Room A, 3rd Floor
54 South High Street, Wailuku, HI

Oahu – Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Leiopapa A Kamehameha Building
Conference Room 204
235 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI

Hawaii – Friday, July 27, 2012

2012 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Governor Neil Abercrombie signed SB 2648 (Act 20) into law on April 13, 2012.  Act 20 allows candidates to use campaign funds to award scholarships to full-time students attending an institution of higher education or a vocational educational school in a program leading to a degree, certificate, or other recognized educational credential.  The total amount of all scholarships shall be no more than twice the maximum amount that one person may contribute to that candidate during the candidate’s respective election period.  Act 20 also provides that no awards shall be made from the filing deadline for nomination papers to the date of the general election.  Also signed into law on June 15, 2012, SB2508 (Act 118) provides that the 1^st Preliminary Primary Report is due 30 days before the primary election. This means that candidates whose names will appear on the ballot for the 2012 primary election must file the 1st Preliminary Primary Report on July 12, 2012, instead of July 31, 2012.

FUTURE COMMISSION NEWSLETTERS

This will be the last mailing of our biannual newsletter.  As discussed in prior newsletters, with the implementation of our new Email System and to reduce costs, we will be sending our newsletter to you via email using the email address that was used to register with the Commission. The newsletter will continue to be posted on our website.  If you would like to receive additional emails, please visit our website at www.hawaii.gov/campaign, click on the Email icon, and add your email to our email subscribe list.

CERTIFICATION OF 2012 ELECTED OFFICIALS

If you win the General Election and will be sworn into office before December 6, 2012 (the due date for the Final Election Period Report), please be mindful that you will need to file your Final Election Period Report early (i.e., before being sworn into office).  This is because election officials can only issue your certificates of election if you have filed all of your disclosure reports with the Commission.

CSC Reports
Next report due for:
Candidates Running in 2012 (on Primary Ballot)
1st Preliminary Primary Report due July 12, 2012

Candidates Not Running in 2012
Supplemental Report due July 31, 2012

Noncandidate Committee and Corporations
Preliminary Primary Report due August 1, 2012

UPDATE ON YAMADA V. WEAVER

On March 21, 2012, the federal district court ruled that (1) the $1,000 per election contribution limit applicable to noncandidate committees under HRS §11-358 cannot be constitutionally applied to noncandidate committees that solely make independent expenditures; (2) the definitions of “noncandidate committee” and “expenditure” in HRS §11-302 are not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad; (3) the electrical contractor plaintiff did not have standing to challenge the electioneering communications registration requirements because by administrative rule, the contractor, as a noncandidate committee, was not required to comply with HRS §11-341; (4) the disclaimer for advertisements required by HRS §11-391(a)(2)(B) is not unconstitutionally vague; and (5) the ban on government contractor contributions contained in HRS §11-355 is constitutionally permissible.  The final order has been appealed to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.  Plaintiffs have not sought a stay of the order so the order is effective until reversed on appeal.  Based upon the court’s decision, organizations, including corporations and other business entities, that make contributions to candidates (or make expenditures) that aggregate more than $1,000 in a two-year election period, are being contacted by the Commission asking them to register as a noncandidate committee or as a corporation (if applicable) with the Commission and to file disclosure reports.

NEW AND IMPROVED TREASURER’S GUIDEBOOK

A new and improved Treasurer’s Guidebook created to provide uniform and simple methods of recordkeeping for candidate and noncandidate committee treasurers has been posted on the Commission’s website.  The target audience for this Guidebook is the novice treasurer but is a good source of information for any treasurer regardless of your experience. The Guidebook discusses the role of the treasurer, cash inflows, cash outflows and termination among other things. Please visit the Commission’s website to access the Guidebook.

UPDATE ON 2012 PUBLIC FUNDING PROGRAMS

To date, the Commission has certified eight candidates under the Hawaii County Council Comprehensive Public Funding Program  The certified candidates receiving public funding are: Maile David-District 6 ($41,573), Karen Eoff-District 8 ($12,282), Brenda Ford-District 6 ($41,573), Greggor Ilagan-District 4 ($16,320), James Weatherford-District 4 ($16,320), Bradley Westervelt-District 6 ($41,373.77), Margaret Wille-District 9 ($11,427.46), and J Yoshimoto-District 2 ($14,559).  Under the Partial Public Funding Funding Program, the Commission has disbursed public funding to two candidates: Don Guzman-Maui County Council, Kahului District ($6,335), and Leolani Oyama-State House, District 5 ($1,570).

COMMISSION’S ON-LINE SURVEY

The Commission would like to thank those that participated in our on-line survey. The survey was posted on the Commission’s website, Facebook and Twitter, and emailed to registered candidate committees, noncandidate committees, corporations and to our email subscriber list on May 23, 2012. The deadline to complete the survey was June 30, 2012. The purpose of the survey was to solicit your opinion to help evaluate and improve the effectiveness of our operations and communications.  The survey was divided into five areas: 1) general background information of the survey taker; 2) communication with or access to the Commission; 3) education and training provided by the Commission; 4) public funding; and 5) questions related to the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund, independent expenditures, and a general comment question. The Commission is very pleased with the responses and plans to use them to improve our efforts to better serve the public and those that are required to file reports with our office.

INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE COMMITTEES

The following is a list of independent expenditure committees that have registered with the Commission for the 2012 elections: A Better Hawaii PAC, AiKea, Hawaii Solutions, Kauai Women’s Caucus, MADPAC Hawaii, and Pacific Resource Partnership PAC. Independent expenditures are those expenditures (i.e., political advertisements) made without any coordination with any candidate or candidate committee. There are no contribution limits for independent expenditure committees. Please visit our website if you would like to view their organizational reports and filed disclosure reports.

FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

Please visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hicsc and our Twitter page at www.twitter.com/hicsc.  If you are not a member of these social media websites, you can still view our Facebook posts and Tweets because we have placed them in the public venue for all to enjoy.

ANNUAL REPORT FOR FY2012

The Commission’s Annual Report for fiscal year 2012 will be made available on our website in August 2012.