Hawaii lawmakers are pushing back against recent rules enacted by the Hawaii State Ethics Commission that limit the gifts they can receive, seeking to once again be able to accept small food gifts, known as “gifts of aloha.”
The gifts have been a common part of state politics, with lawmakers and their staff frequently being gifted small food items by lobbyists and their clients, such as manapua and musubi, according to coverage by Honolulu by Civil Beat.
While the intent of the rules is to prevent any appearance of impropriety in terms of interactions between lawmakers and lobbyists, some have expressed concern over whether the rules would even prevent something such as a constituent giving a lawmaker a small amount of food or even a bottle of water, according to Civil Beat.
“I don’t think there is a right answer when it comes to how to devise this system,” Dan Gluck, Hawaii Ethics Commission executive director, said according to Civil Beat. “I think there’s going to have to be some lines drawn somewhere and reasonable people can disagree about where those lines ought to be.”
The Legislature has tried to push that line back to where it stood in the past, with one recently-introduced bill setting the amount at $25, according to Civil Beat. That is the upper limit on food gifts that had existed prior to the new rules.
One bill introduced in the state House of Representatives would simply exempt small food gifts from non-lobbyists from being reported, according to Civil Beat. House Bill 645 went to the House Government Reform Committee, but is the only one of the bills that has so far had any hearing.
However, the bill also requires that the food or beverage be provided as part of an “informational meeting or presentation or goodwill event,” and Kee Campbell, a commission attorney, said that defining what events count could only create greater confusion, according to Civil Beat.