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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/10/2016 Public hearing transcript on BILL#2614 PUBLIC HEARING FEBRUARY 10, 2016 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to order by Mel Rapozo, Chair, Committee of the Whole, on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, at 1:42 p.m., at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 201, Historic County Building, Lihu`e, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Mason K. Chock Honorable Gary L. Hooser Honorable Ross Kagawa Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i Honorable Mel Rapozo Excused: Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following: "Bill No. 2614 — A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 3, KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987, AS AMENDED, BY ADDING A NEW ARTICLE 6, RELATING TO THE REGISTRATION OF LOBBYISTS," which was passed on first reading and ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kaua`i on January 13, 2016, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on January 22, 2016. The following communications were received for the record: • 1. Alapa, Kanani, February 10, 2016 2. Berrett, Marti, February 10, 2016 3. Brenner, Faye Reese, February 10, 2016 4. Dana, Edmund Trowbridge, February 10, 2016 5. de Buhr, Evelyn, February 10, 2016 6. Deets, Megan, February 10, 2016 7. Dinner, David, February 10, 2016 8. Earhart, Anne, February 10, 2016 9. Emura, Adelaide, February 10, 2016 10. Fallbeck, Patricia, February 10, 2016 11. Feinberg, Aaron, February 10, 2016 12. Gaines, Christina, February 10, 2016 13. Greenberg, Miles, February 10, 2016 14. Herring, Liz, February 10, 2016 15. Hillstrom, Jeremy, February 10, 2016 16. Hoeme, Debbie, February 10, 2016 17. Holloway, Victoria "Tewa", February 10, 2016 18. Holman, Devaki, February 10, 2016 19. Hoover, Desiree, February 10, 2016 20. Hurst, Howard, February 10, 2016 21. Kanna, Nancy, February 10, 2016 PUBLIC HEARING 2 FEBRUARY 10, 2016 BILL NO. 2614 22. Kaufmann, Denise, February 10, 2016 23. Koss, Larry, February 10, 2016 24. LaBedz, Diana, February 10, 2016 25. Langan, Joan, February 10, 2016 26. Leibow, Rick, February 10, 2016 27. Lesser-Benton, Joni, February 10, 2016 28. Levy, Joan, February 10, 2016 29. Lewis, Marjorie, February 10, 2016 30. Maas, Joan, February 10, 2016 31. Marshall, Paul, February 10, 2016 32. McGowan, Iris, February 10, 2016 33. Owens, Patrick, February 10, 2016 34. Peterson, Bill and Sea, February 10, 2016 35. Pizzitola, Linda, February 10, 2016 36. Quarton, Laurel, February 10, 2016 37. Rachap, Allan, February 10, 2016 38. Ranke, Kelika, February 10, 2016 39. Rawal, Shree, February 10, 2016 40. Roversi-Deal, Sky, February 10, 2016 41. Starbright, Timothy, February 10, 2016 42. Strom, Susie, February 10, 2016 43. Sutton, David H., February 10, 2016 44. Tenenbaum, Debbie, February 10, 2016 45. Threshie, Craig F., February 10, 2016 46. Trenton, Debra, February 10, 2016 47. Tyler, Jenn, February 10, 2016 48. Ucko, Kurt, February 10, 2016 49. Vernon Family, February 10, 2016 50. Walker, Maria, February 10, 2016 51. Watkins III, Samuel A., February 10, 2016 52. Weiss, Valerie, February 10, 2016 53. Wheeler, Joanna, February 10, 2016 54. Yadao, Elaine, February 10, 2016 55. Yadao, Lee, February 10, 2016 The hearing proceeded as follows: SCOTT K. SATO, Deputy County Clerk: We received fifty-five (55) written testimony and we have two (2) registered speakers. The first speaker is Jan TenBruggencate, followed by Nancy Kanna. JAN TENBRUGGENCATE: Thank you members of the Council. I am Jan TenBruggencate. I am speaking as an individual. I support lobbyist registration that identifies people paid to influence public opinion. In order to be effective, registration needs to be transparent, fair, and simple. A signup sheet for lobbyists kept in the meeting room available for everyone to view, that is what you need. Clear, simple, transparent, and fair is what was here at the County Council twenty (20) years ago, and you do not need any more than that to meet the requirements of the State Constitution. This Bill fails on all counts. It is complicated. It singles out local people and lets outsiders skate. It contains loopholes that lets certain people avoid registration, including Councilmembers. I will cite a few examples. It explicitly allows after-the-fact registration, a big loophole that prevents the public from learning about lobbyists until five (5) days PUBLIC HEARING 3 FEBRUARY 10, 2016 BILL NO. 2614 after the lobbying is done. If a one thousand dollars per hour ($1,000/hour) Los Angeles lobbyist shows up here and lobbies you, he will be gone before he even has to register. How are you going to register him after he is gone? If a local high school assistant sports coach under contract or the head of the local Heart Association or Chamber of Commerce comes to lobby, they will have to file reports or be subject to massive fines, thousand dollar fines. Right now, the Bill exempts County Councilmembers themselves from lobbyist registration and it lets County Councilmembers exempt their friends, anyone they call up. Those paid to lobby do not have to register if they are called "expert witnesses" under this Bill. The Bill requires every lobbyist file financial disclosures every year, but also bans any gifts to government officials. So what is the point of the financial disclosure forms? Campaign contributions, are those gifts? If they are, then banning them, I think, violates Federal law under Citizens United. It may be a bad law, but it is the law. This prohibits lobbyists from serving on the Charter Review Commission or Board of Ethics even though any Board or Commission member already is prohibited from lobbying government officials. So what is the point of the duplication? I could go on and on, but to go back to what I suggested earlier, this County, twenty (20) years ago, had a very simple, clear, and clean lobbyist registration procedure which meets the requirements of the State Constitution. It was a form sitting right over there in this room that you filed before you were allowed to get up and speak. It does the job. It is very transparent. Everybody can understand who is getting paid to lobby the Council or lobby some other government agency. It is simple. It is what we need. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Mr. TenBruggencate: Thank you. Mr. Sato: The next registered speaker is Nancy... Councilmember Hooser: Will you be providing that in writing to us? Mr. TenBruggencate: I can. Here. It is my only copy. Councilmember Hooser: You can hand it to staff. We can make a copy for you. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. Mr. TenBruggencate: Thank you. Mr. Sato: The next speaker is Nancy Kanna representing the Kaua`i Board of Realtors. NANCY KANNA: Aloha Chair Rapozo, Vice Chair Kagawa, and esteemed members of the Council. I am Nancy Kaana, Government Affairs Advocate, here to testify on behalf of the Kaua`i Board of Realtors (KBR) and its five hundred seventy-five (575) members and affiliates. KBR opposes Bill No. 2614 in its current form and recommends that Kauai model the Bill after the State ethic laws under Hawai`i Revised Statutes Chapter 97. Lobbying provides decision-makers with valuable insights and data as well as granting stakeholders access to the development and implementation of public policies. A sound framework for transparency in lobbying that is reasonable and balanced can be PUBLIC HEARING 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2016 BILL NO. 2614 useful. As such, KBR supports efforts to require those individuals who meet certain criteria to register as lobbyists and to register their lobbying expenditures as well as contributions received for the purpose of lobbying by filing reports. In review of Bill No. 2614, KBR believes the current proposal is overarching and presents an unreasonable burden. I am just going to kind of go through some of the highlights of the Bill. Under definition Section 3-6.2, the Bill's definition of expenditure excludes the expenses of preparing testimony, which is inconsistent with the definitions of"lobbying" or "lobbying activities." This may be expansive and would recommend that a simple trigger is to adopt from the State's lobbyist law where a lobbyist is defined as any individual, who for pay or for other consideration, engages in lobbying in excess of five (5) hours in any month or spends more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) during any reporting period. The State lobbyist law defines lobbying as communicating directly or through an agent or soliciting others to communicate with an official in the legislative or executive branch for the purpose of attempting to influence legislative or administrative action or ballot issue. The registration Section 3-6.3. Page 2, item (b) requires the registration statement to be notarized. KBR believes this requirement is burdensome and unnecessary. KBR also questions if codifying item (d) is necessary to ensure a registered lobbyist is a lobbyist. We are a small community and believe this requirement may be unnecessary. I realize my time is coming up. May I continue? Is that okay? Council Chair Rapozo: Is there anyone else wishing to testify on this matter? Okay, then you can continue. Ms. Kanna: Okay. I just want to be mindful of everyone's time. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you so much. Ms. Kanna: Contributions and expenditures; statement, Section 3-6.5. As proposed, item (c)(1) requires every single expenditure to be detailed. It would be more realistic to attach a minimum dollar amount. For example, if I give you folks copies of something, I would have to write down eighty cents ($0.80) for that given day. So kind of follow my logic here. One organization could be involved with many issues. Item (c)(3) requires unreasonable detail. Items (c)(5) and (6) are duplicative of State campaign financing laws. Restricted activity, Section 3-6.7. Item (c) would exclude expertise on an island where subject matter experts are scarce. We believe excluding subject matter experts would not bring stakeholders together in a collaborative fashion. Item (d) is unrealistic and is contradictive to Section 3-6.5(c)(1). Penalties; administrative fines, Section 3-6.9. Very steep fines are levied if Section 3-6.7(c) or (d) is violated. Again, item (c) and (d) are unrealistic. KBR believes in transparency and disclosure of lobbyist activity that is fair, reasonable, and within practical means. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you very much. Anyone else wishing to testify on this matter? If not, the public hearing is closed. Councilmember Hooser: Chair. PUBLIC HEARING 5 FEBRUARY 10, 2016 BILL NO. 2614 Council Chair Rapozo: I am sorry. Councilmember Hooser: Because the public is watching this and for the record, I think it is important to state that over fifty-five (55) people testified in support of this measure, written support, and two (2) testified against it. So I think I just want to put that on record for the public watching, the millions of people who are watching at home, know that there is deep support for this issue. Thank you. Council Chair Rapozo: Thank you. With that, the public hearing is now closed. There being no further testimony, the public hearing adjourned at 1:51 p.m. Respectfully submitted, II A flt `s SCOTT K. SATO Deputy County Clerk :aa