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renders the power to fine useless, because violators can simply terminate the offending <br />conduct in order to avoid any fine. The legislature has had proposals before it in 2007, <br />2008, and 2009 to clarify this language to apply fines to be imposed when violations are <br />first discovered, but the bills stalled. We understand the Board of Ethics Honolulu <br />Board of Ethics, and all of us, will be going to the legislature in 2010 to finally give the <br />Board of Ethics the powers that the Hawai `i County Council intended. A related issue is <br />that state law requires when an offender is fined administratively, that offender must have <br />an avenue by which he or she can appeal that fine. Under existing law, the County may <br />be required to create what amounts to an appeals board for the Board of Ethics to hear <br />appeals of administrative fines of this Board. This would be a cumbersome and little <br />used process. As an alternative, we would like to collaborate with the Hawai `i County <br />Board of Ethics and the Honolulu Board of Ethics to lobby our legislature to amend state <br />law to explicitly state that appeals of administrative fines for ethics violations are made <br />directly to Circuit Court. This will fulfill the requirement for a fair appeals process and <br />will avoid the need to create an entirely new County board to hear appeals cases. Our <br />Ethics Code that all of you enforce serves as a guide for both employees and the public to <br />encourage proper conduct, and it helps define our community's expectations for public <br />employees. I believe these proposals will advance the Ethics Code in a way that <br />promotes public confidence in County government and fosters accountability. We <br />welcome your suggestions and comments and lookforward to working closely with all of <br />you as we move forward to strengthen our Code of Ethics here in the County of Hawai `i. <br />Thank you all very much. <br />CHAIR: Thank you. Okay, do we have any questions for the Mayor, perhaps right now? <br />NICHOLSON: I do have a question. <br />MAYOR: Yes, Marilyn. <br />NICHOLSON: Thank you for bringing this to us, because we realize you could have <br />taken this directly to the Council for discussion and adoption, so I'm glad that you're <br />giving us an opportunity to discuss this with the public and among ourselves. What <br />exactly are you looking for us to do? Because we can't actually make we can make <br />recommendations, but we don't make the decisions. The County Council makes the <br />decisions. So what are you hoping to gain by bringing this to our Board? <br />MAYOR: A couple things. One, all of you are community - committed volunteers who <br />serve our County and know best the County Board of Ethics. We believe that your review <br />and your willingness to take meaningful input from the community during open hearings <br />such as these, your recommendations and suggestions that will then be forwarded to the <br />County Council, we believe is invaluable. So we thank you for your willingness to review <br />these proposals, utilizing your expertise and experience, utilizing your ability to reach <br />out to the public and get meaningful input, and then utilizing all of that to come up with <br />recommendations and suggestions, I think is invaluable to the process of one, <br />strengthening our Code of Ethics, and then moving it forward to the County Council with <br />the most possible input. <br />5 <br />