Commission approves Advisory Opinion 16-01

From Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission December 16, 2015 (excerpts)

…Corporation X is a government contractor subject to the ban contained in HRS §11-355 (entitled "Contributions by state and county contractors prohibited"). Corporation X's parent company, Corporation Y, desires to make contributions to Hawaii candidates and noncandidate committees through its federal political action committee Y PAC.…

…the Commission states that Y PAC' s contributions to Hawaii candidates and noncandidate committees, solely based upon a list of potential recipients submitted by Corporation X, the government contractor, would violate HRS § 11-355(a)( 1). However, the solicitation of contributions by Corporation Y, of its officers and employees and the officers and employees of its subsidiaries, would not violate HRS § 11-355(a)(2)….

…The Commission has considered HRS § 11-355 in the past. In Advisory Opinion No. 07-07,3 the Commission determined that the partners, employees, and their spouses and family members, of a partnership that was a government contractor, were not barred from making political contributions under the contractor ban, even though the partnership itself could not make contributions.4 The Commission noted then that the legislative history of the contractor ban indicated that the Legislature intended that the ban only apply to the specific contracting entity and not individuals associated with the contractor, such as the individual owners of the contractor….

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