HONOLULU — A measure to prohibit City and County of Honolulu employees from soliciting, accepting or receiving gifts from lobbyists or other third-party sources in relation to their official duties has been approved.
The City Council voted unanimously to adopt Bill 23, meant to tighten existing rules that bar city employees from accepting gifts valued in excess of $50, also clarifying which gifts may be solicited or accepted.
The measure was introduced in April by Council Chair Tommy Waters and Vice Chair Esther Kia‘aina and adopted Wednesday. It replaces Bill 26, a similar 2022 measure that expired earlier this year after surpassing its two-year deadline without Council passage.
The prior bill introduced by Waters materialized in the wake of public corruption scandals at the Honolulu Police Department and city Department of Planning and Permitting.
Bill 23 will amend city laws so that “a city officer or employee shall not solicit, and, unless exempted (under city laws), a city officer or employee shall not accept or receive, either directly or indirectly through a third party, any gift if the city officer or employee knows or has reason to know that it is from a prohibited source.”
“A city officer or employee is deemed to have reason to know that a gift is from a prohibited source if the gift is given, directly or indirectly, from any prohibited source who has appeared before the city officer or employee, or a body of which the city officer or employee is a member, in connection with the prohibited source’s lobbying activities, financial relationship with the city, or both,” the bill states.
As defined, a gift means any gift, whether in the form of money, goods, a service, a loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality or a thing “of value, favor, gratuity, commission, or promise of a gift in such form or any other form” received by a city employee from anyone doing business with the city.
Under the bill, “a financial relationship with the city” means a person “receives or may receive funds from the city, including via current city contracts, commercial leases within the city, and city concessions, or receives or may receive income from third parties as a result of the financial relationship,” and includes lobbyists.
Certain Bill 23 exemptions could include:
• Political campaign contributions permitted by state law.
• Items of negligible value customarily given to express condolences or sympathy, such as flowers, food items or cards.
• Culturally appropriate lei of no resale value given at a celebration.
• Awards, plaques, certificates, mementos, novelties, culturally significant items or similar nonmonetary items of no resale value given in recognition of or in gratitude for the recipient city officer’s or employee’s civic, charitable, political, professional or public service.
During the Council’s meeting Wednesday, Laurie Wong-Nowinski, the Ethics Commission’s assistant executive director and legal counsel, testified in support of Bill 23.
“It has been the commission’s long intent to strengthen and clarify the city’s gift bill, and we believe that this bill does just that,” she said.
In May, Wong-Nowinski told the Council that the measure reduced the gift cap to $50 per year from $200 per year per source. She also noted then that the bill mirrors the City Charter and current laws “by prohibiting gifts, if it appears that the gift is intended to reward or influence the city employee.”
But others disagreed with the bill’s intent.
“After reading the discussion by the Ethics Commission and taking in the public perception of public officials and corruption, I oppose Bill 23, and, if passed, I urge the mayor to veto this bill,” Kaimuki resident Tim Garry told the Council Wednesday.
He added past violations “by former Council members” should compel the city to “do the right thing and institute a no-gift policy.”
“While the City Council is debating about manini $50 gifts, politicians receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations,” candidate for Honolulu mayor Choon James said Wednesday.
“It is easier to just say ‘no gifts,’ and then, if there is somebody who is very blatant, you could address that. Gifts, like leis and (the) aloha- style thing, I think we should just not even go there,” James said.
