Life
of the Land's Good Government Campaign
Foundations of Democracy
Sunshine, Adequate Notice of Meetings, Open Meetings, Accessibility of
Records, Disclosure of Conflict of Interest, Public Votes
Currently, the State Legislature exempts
itself from these provisions of law.
Here are a
few suggestions on what the State Legislature should require of
itself:
Legislative Committee Hearings:
• Chapter 92 - Hawaii's Sunshine Law must apply to
the Legislature as well as to couties and agencies;
• Hearing notices must be publicly available 48 hours
before the committee meets;
• Legislators must use microphones in committee
hearings;
• Copies of Conference Drafts must be available to
the public;
• All Conference Drafts must all be consistently
numbered (such as CD 1, CD IA, CD 1B etc.);
•
All proposed bill modifications must be electronically posted 48 hours
before the hearing;
Disclosure:
• Elected officials must disclose all direct/indirect
sources of income and conflicts;
• Legislators must disclose any staff who are paid by
outside companies or corporations;
• Those entities providing legislative staff must
report these salaries as donations;
• All campaign donation filings must be made
electronically available for public scrutiny;
• It must be mandated that all legislators live in
the district they represent;
• All Committee Chairs must disclose any conflict of
interest pertaining to their committee's subject matter
Bans:
• No fundraisers should be held during the
legislative
session;
• No public parking spaces should be blocked
or
'bagged' during the Legislative session;
•
Posting a hearing notice late on Friday night for a early Monday
hearing should
be banned;
•
Senate-House Conference Committee members must not meet in private to
hash out differences in proposed bills;
Public-Private Partnerships
•
All public-private
partnerships must follow the sunshine law;
Executive Session
•
All agencies meeting in Executive Session must state the issue they
were discussing;
Life of the Land is a
Hawaii-based, Hawaii-focused
environmental and community action group. Founded in 1970, the mission
of Life of the Land is to preserve and protect the life of the land
through sustainable land use and energy policies and to promote open
government through research, education, advocacy and, when necessary,
litigation. We believe that people are part of the environment. We are
known for research, research, research. We cover complex issues such as
genetic engineering, climate change, and quality of life issues. LOL is
a 501(c)3 charitable organization. We do not attend fundraisers,
testify for/against political and/or administrative candidates, nor do
we rank candidates. We work on issues not people.
Contact: Life of the Land, 76
North King Street, Suite 203, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817, Executive
Director: Henry Curtis,
henry.lifeoftheland@gmail.com * Assistant Executive Director: Kat
Brady,
katbrady@hotmail.com
Links: Front Page Who
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