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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 098 Draft 01 2008-2010COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII RESOLUTION NO. 98 ~~ A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE PASSAGE OF HOUSE BILL N0.345, RELATING TO THE POSTPONEMENT OF A COMPREHENSIVE PUBLIC FUNDING PROGRAM FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAII COUNCIL ELECTIONS. WHEREAS, House Bill No. 345 (hereinafter HB 345) postpones the comprehensive public funding program for the County of Hawaii Council elections created by Act 244, 2008 Session Laws of Hawaii, until the 2014 elections, rather than commencing for the 2010 elections; and WHEREAS, Act 244 provides that any candidate for a Hawaii County Council office can apply for comprehensive public funding, providing that person accrues 200 signatures and a nominal $5 contribution from each signer, up until a total of $300,000 has been expended from the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund; and WHEREAS, if the pilot project had been in effect for the 2006 election cycle in Hawaii County, a minimum of $373,276 would have been spent, assuming just one publicly-funded candidate from each of the major political parties ran in each district; and WHEREAS, twenty-three candidates ran for Council offices during the 2006 election cycle; and WHEREAS, should each incumbent apply for the 2010 cycle, the alloted $300,000 would likely allow for only one challenger per district race, or certain districts could receive zero funds due to absorption by the other district races; and WHEREAS, there are no provisions in Act 244 to equitably and fairly determine who receives the limited funds, including equal funding per council district, which may create a frenzy of potential candidates applying for the funds and potential legal challenges relating to who should receive the limited funds; and WHEREAS, the concept of "equalization funds" has been challenged in several courts, including in Arizona, where U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver recently ruled that a key provision of Arizona's public campaign-financing system violates constitutional free speech rights; and WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in Davis v. Fed. Election Commission (2008) found that provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, concluding that the right to use personal funds to finance a campaign should not produce fundraising advantages for opponents in the competitive context of electoral politics; and WHEREAS, no funds were provided to the County of Hawaii to implement the provisions of Act 244, which require that for every candidate seeking to participate in the program the county clerk must verify that at least 200 signatures and qualifying contributions were received from registered voters in the district for which each candidate seeks office; and WHEREAS, additional funding has not been provided to the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission which has identified additional duties and responsibilities resulting from the comprehensive public funding program that will most likely result in the hiring of new staff, the development of manuals, forms and procedures; modifying the electronic candidate filing system; and potential educating candidates; and WHEREAS, several instances of fraud and abuse have been reported in other states providing comprehensive publicly-funded elections, including in Seattle, where Emilie Boyles was accused of improperly using public funds to pay her then 16-year-old daughter $12,500 and to reimburse herself for calls made from her home telephone; and WHEREAS, a Seattle Weekly article dated April 8, 2008, states that Boyles has paid back about $69,000, according to the city auditor's office, but still owes $112,919 including interest and penalties; and WHEREAS, in Arizona, Yuri Downing, Paul DeDonati, and Trevor Clevenger collaborated to receive approximately $100,000 in public funds to run for the Arizona Legislature, but used the money to throw lavish parties and pay bills at high-end restaurants and clubs; and WHEREAS, a Tucson Weekly article dated December 30, 2004, states that Downing pled guilty and agreed to repay just over $41,000 to the Clean Elections Program, while DeDonati and Clevenger were each assessed $15,000 fines by the Clean Elections Commission; and WHEREAS, Act 244 states that the comprehensive public funding program is a pilot program, but contains no provisions to determine objectively and empirically if the program has been succesful and should therefore be expanded to other counties, other political offices than county council elections, or state elections; and WHEREAS, if this "pilot program" is determined to be a successful model, there is no plan in place to expand the program to other Counties and elected offices, and furthermore, if such expansion occurs, sufficient funds are not in place, nor likely to be in place to cover a genuine expansion of the program to a statewide level; and WHEREAS, when considering the potential for statewide implementation, the Hawaii State Campaign Commission reported that Massachusetts and Kentucky have terminated their full funding program due to costs and Connecticut reports increases from $15 million in fiscal year 2006 to a projected cost of $45 million for fiscal year 2008; and Page 2 of 5 WHEREAS, the Hawaii State Campaign Commission stated that the Hawaii fund would be bankrupt within the first year of a statewide program, and the additional check-off would not generate anywhere near the required funds to maintain a viable program, which would then require an appropriation from the state legislature out of the general fund; and WHEREAS, Hawaii County expending such a large portion of the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund, which is contributed to by the entire State, is not fair to those seeking partial public funding for other races on other Islands in addition to the multitude of other needs placed on the fund; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII that it supports HB 345 and asks the State Legislature to postpone the implementation of comprehensive public funding for County Council elections until 2014. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the council finds that state regulation of elections should confer powers, duties, and responsibilities on the counties by way of general laws. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the council that a true pilot program will encompass all counties, not just Hawaii County, to determine if such a program could be feasible on a statewide basis and urges the Legislature to further amend Act 244 to include all county elections, notwithstanding elections for mayor and prosecutor. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the council believes the provisions of Act 244 must be refined prior to being implemented to ensure that the comprehensive public funding program is a genuine pilot program with empirical objectives to determine its rate of success and potential for expansion. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the council is concerned that, with no objective means to empirically measure the success of such a "pilot program," that a statewide program could be the result, which is completely economically unfeasible in the foreseeable future and could have disastrous effects on the State's general fund and operating budget. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the council beleieves that unless adequate funding can be provided to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of funds for all candidates who wish to participate, the implementation of public funding for County Council elections should be delayed. Page 3 of 5 BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the County Clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to the Honorable Senator Brain T. Taniguchi, Chair, Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations; the Honorable Senator Donna Mercado Kim, Chair, Committee on Ways and Means; the Honorable Senator Colleen Hanabusa, President of the Senate; the Honorable Representative Calvin K.Y. Say, Speaker of the House; the Honorable Representative Jon Riki Karamatsu, chair, Committee on Judiciary; the Honorable Representative Marcus R. Oshiro, chair, Committee on Finance; and the Honorable Governor Linda Lingle. Dated at Hilo , Hawaii, this 13th day of April , 2009. COUNTY COUNCIL ROLL CALL VOTE County of Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii I hereby certify that the foregoing RESOLUTION was by the votc indicated to the right hereof adopted by the COUNCIL of the Counry~ of Hawaii on April 13, 2009 ATTEST: COU TY'CLERK CHAIRPERSON & PRESIDING OFFICER AYES NOES ABS EX ENRIQUES X FORD X GREEN WELL X HOFPMANN X IKEDA g NAEOLE X ONISHI X YAGONG g YOSt11M0'r0 X 6 3 0 0 Reference: C-248/Waived FC RESOLUTION NO. 98 U Page 4 of 4 INTRODUCED BY: