Minutes for April 9, 2014 Meeting

Posted in Minutes

Campaign Spending Commission
Leiopapa A Kamehameha Building, Room 204
April 9, 2014
10:00 a.m.

Commissioners Present:
G. William Snipes, Tina Gomes, Eldon Ching, Gregory Shoda, Adrienne Yoshihara

Staff Present:
Kristin Izumi-Nitao, Tony Baldomero, Gary Kam, Ellen Kojima
Deputy Attorney Generals Valri Kunimoto and Deirdre Marie-Iha

Call to Order:
Meeting convened at 10:10 a.m. with Chair Snipes presiding.

Consideration and Approval of Minutes on 3/12/2014:
Commissioner Ching moved to approve the minutes of March 12, 2014.  Motion seconded by Commissioner Yoshihara.  Motion carried unanimously.

New Business:    None

Old Business:
Docket No. 14-15 – In Re the Matter of Lori Wingard, Santiago Gorospe, and Friends of Lori Wingard
Executive Director Izumi-Nitao reported that the complaint alleging that Respondents failed to file the Supplemental Report was continued from the 3/12/14 Commission meeting per Respondent Wingard’s request for continuance, which the Commission granted.

Staff informed Respondent Wingard that her continuance was granted and recommended that she file the Supplemental Report, and that a notice of fine for the late filing would be sent when the report was filed.  Further informed that if the fine is paid before the April 9th meeting, staff would withdraw or recommend that the Commission dismiss the complaint.

On 3/21/14, Respondent filed the Supplemental Report.   A fine of $200 was computed for the late filing of this report which Respondent Wingard paid on 4/7/14.

Staff recommends dismissal due to compliance.

Chair Snipes moved to accept staff recommendation of dismissal.  Motion seconded by Commissioner Yoshihara.  Motion carried unanimously.

Docket No. 14-19 – In Re the Matter of Albert Lee, Ross Shimamura and Lots of People for Albert Lee
Executive Director Izumi-Nitao reported that the complaint alleging that Respondents failed to file the Supplemental Report was continued from the 3/12/14 Commission meeting for further consideration and to address the late report filing fine.

On 3/8/14, Respondent filed the Supplemental Report. A fine of $200 was computed and Respondents were notified along with the fine for not timely amending his committee’s Organizational Report.  On 3/20/14, Respondent Lee paid the assessed fine.

Staff recommends dismissal due to compliance.

Commissioner Yoshihara moved to accept staff recommendation of dismissal.  Motion seconded by Commissioner Shoda.  Motion carried unanimously.

Discussion and Update of Commission Related Legislation for 2014 Legislative Session
General Counsel Kam reported on the following:

HB 1604 HD 2 / SB 2119 – Requires the filing of CSC disclosure reports and payment of all outstanding fines to obtain elections certification – Amended by both the House and Senate, going to conference committee.

– HB 1603 / SB 2118 HD 1 – If a candidate exceeds the expenditure limit, he/she must notify the Office of Elections, instead of the Chief Election Officer – Amended by the House, going to conference committee.

– HB 1605 / SB 2120 – Immediate family members not subject to candidate contribution limits – Going to the Governor.

Discussion and Consideration of Legislators’ Expenditures
Executive Director Izumi-Nitao reported that the issue with campaign expenditures and legislators’ annual allowance is that both permit use for ordinary and reasonable expenses as an officeholder.  The State Ethics Commission is considering whether certain types of legislative allowance expenditures should be prohibited, and they have not yet taken any action on this issue and will resume discussion on this matter at its April meeting.

Executive Director Izumi-Nitao noted that she will update the Commission once the State Ethics Commission makes a determination, including a recommendation on how the Commission should approach this matter (e.g., issuing a reminder as to the permissive and prohibited campaign expenditures which will serve as notice for future violations, identify permissible areas of campaign fund spending that the State Ethics Commission will deem prohibited).

Since the last meeting staff has been working with ICSD regarding modifying the Candidate Filing System to add another field in Schedules B and E, where candidates would select which of the 8 permissible campaign expenditures under HRS §11-381 is being invoked.

Report from Executive Director:
Executive Director Izumi-Nitao reported on the following items:

Report on Compliance of Filing Timely Disclosure Reports
Action has been taken on any reports not filed for the July 31, 2013 Supplemental Report and the January 31, 2014 Supplemental Report.

Report on 2014 Committee Training Schedule
Deadline for filing nomination papers is June 3rd   Training sessions to be scheduled for Tuesday, June 24th through Friday, June 27th and Tuesday, July 1st through Thursday, July 3rd for candidates and candidate and noncandidate committees.

Staff is considering offering training sessions in Honolulu on candidate committees, public funding, and noncandidate committees.  For Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, training will be on candidate committees and partial public funding.

As in the past, staff will be doing e-registration with a notice that if there is not enough participants registered for the training, the training will not be held.

Update on Civic Celerator Project
Associate Director Baldomero reported that Common Cause received a Voqual grant to hold a series of workshops to develop applications using campaign finance information on Socrata.  The Civic Celerator Project groups will demonstrate their applications at the final Demo Day on Saturday, April 19.  Judges will include Executive Director Izumi-Nitao; Keoni Kali, Chief Information Officer; Nick Grube, Civil Beat; Gordon Pang, Star-Advertiser; and Daryl Huff of Hawaii News Now.  The applications will be judged on their originality, sustainability, degree of completion, design, technical compatability, and community impact.

Next Meeting:
Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 14, 2014, at 10:00 a.m.

Commissioner Ching moved to convene executive session to consult with attorney.  Motion seconded by Commissioner Yoshihara.  Motion carried unanimously.

Public Session reconvened – 12:05 p.m.
Chair Snipes reported that commissioners unanimously approved amendments to the Administrative Fine Table.

Vice Chair Gomes moved to adjourn meeting.  Motion seconded by Commissioner Yoshihara. Motion carried unanimously.  Meeting adjourned at 12:05 p.m.