Hawaii lawmakers’ financial disclosures are public and they’re usually posted online. But it’s difficult for citizens to search and compare lawmakers’ disclosures given the way the state collects the information, according to the State Integrity Investigation.

The state got a C-, or 71 percent, grade for Legislative Accountability. Leading the pack was Tennessee. Hawaii tied for 14th with New Hampshire, Kentucky and West Virginia. Maine came in last.

By law, the financial disclosures of all lawmakers are public. But the disclosures aren’t submitted in a consistent format. Some are typed, some are handwritten and are not searchable.

Overall, the State Integrity Investigation ranked Hawaii 10th after Civil Beat reporters researched 330 “Corruption Risk Indicators” across 14 categories of government. (Click here to learn more about the methodology used for the project.)

Bottom line: The format in which the state collects lawmakers’ financial disclosures makes it difficult for citizens to search and compare the information.

Here’s the basis for the C- grade. Each day we’ll print a different question and the criteria used to come up with a grade for each question. It’s your turn to evaluate whether Civil Beat got it right and to share what you think should be done to improve the situation. Share your comments at the bottom of this story.

Here’s the third of five questions the State Integrity Investigation asked about Legislative Accountability.

Can citizens access the asset disclosure records of members of the state legislature?

Overall score: 70%

Here are the criteria Civil Beat used to answer that question and what we found.

1. In law, citizens can access the asset disclosure records of members of the state legislature.

Notes: Financial disclosure forms of the state Legislature are public records, so citizens may inspect and duplicate the records.

Sources: Hawaii Revised Statutes, Chapter 84 Standards of Conduct, Part II. Code of Ethics, §84-17 Requirements of disclosure. Visit http://capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol02_Ch0046-0115/HRS0084/HRS_0084-0017.htm for details.

Score: 100%

Scoring criteria: These are the scoring criteria for this question.
Yes: A YES score is earned if members of the state legislature file an asset disclosure form that is, in law, accessible to the public (individuals, CSOs, or journalists).
No: A NO score is earned if there is no asset disclosure for members of the state legislature. A NO score is earned if the form is filed, but not available to the public.

2. In law, citizens can access the asset disclosure records of members of the state legislature.

Notes: Financial disclosure forms are accessible to the public within a reasonable time, according to Nikki Love with Common Cause Hawaii. Citizens can access the legislative disclosures about the same time as the governor, but usually it won’t take longer than two weeks, according to Cody Hensarling with the nonprofit, free market think tank Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

Sources:

• Nikki Love, executive director, Common Cause Hawaii, 9/24/11, telephone interview.

• Cody Hensarling, special assistant to president for development, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 9/19/11, telephone interview.

Score: 50%

Scoring criteria: These are the scoring criteria for this question.
Very Strong: Records are available online, or records can be obtained within two days. Records are uniformly available; there are no delays for politically sensitive information.
Fair: Records take around two weeks to obtain. Some delays may be experienced.
Very Weak: Records take more than a month to acquire. In some cases, records may be available sooner, but there may be persistent delays in obtaining politically sensitive records.

3. In practice, citizens can access legislative asset disclosure records at a reasonable cost.

Notes: Financial disclosures of state lawmakers are free online and accessible at the State Ethics Commission’s website (http://hawaii.gov/ethics/findisc/legs). Common Cause Hawaii’s Nikki Love confirmed the records are free online. Honolulu Civil Beat posted a link to the financial disclosures of state Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland and state Sen. Ronald Kouchi. The Hawaii State Ethics Commission posted 51 House lawmakers financial disclosures on its website, according to Honolulu Civil Beat.

Sources:

• Nikki Love, executive director, Common Cause Hawaii, 9/24/11, telephone interview.

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Robert Brown, 6/3/11, “Sixty Percent of Hawaii Senators Filed Disclosure Reports After Session”

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Robert Brown, 6/3/11, “Most Hawaii House Reps File Disclosures After Legislative Session”

Score: 100%

Scoring criteria: These are the scoring criteria for this question.
Very Strong: Records are free to all citizens, or available for the cost of photocopying. Records can be obtained at little cost, such as by mail or online.
Fair: Records impose a financial burden on citizens, journalists, or CSOs. Retrieving records may require a visit to a specific office, such as the state capitol.
Very Weak: Retrieving records imposes a major financial burden on citizens. Records’ costs are prohibitive to most citizens, journalists, or CSOs trying to access this information.

4. In practice, the asset disclosure records of members of the state legislature are of high quality.

Notes: State lawmakers’ financial disclosures are handwritten, scanned and uploaded electronically as a pdf document. The handwritten forms make it difficult for citizens to search and compare the information. Some lawmakers have previously omitted information such as sources of income. Political blogger Ian Lind discovered that state Sen. Clayton Hee’s original financial disclosure reported ‘none’ in most categories, but later made changes. A Honolulu Civil Beat investigation found that some state lawmakers claimed real estate values on their statements, but were off by a few thousand dollars or more. One lawmaker explained that her figures were based on her personal judgment, according to Honolulu Civil Beat’s story. In addition, the financial disclosures are mostly filed after the legislative session which means the public has no means of scrutinizing possible conflicts of interest, according to Honolulu Civil Beat.

Sources:

• iLind, Ian Lind, 5/25/11, “Senator Hee amends latest financial disclosure, questions remain”

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Robert Brown, 1/19/11, “Today’s Disclosure, Yesterday’s News”

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Robert Brown, 1/20/11, “Loophole Limits Disclosure of Lawmakers’ Income”

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Staff, 7/15/11, “Off The Beat: Handwritten Disclosures — In the 21st Century?”

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Robert Brown, 4/26/11, “The Price is Wrong”

Score: 75%

Scoring criteria: These are the scoring criteria for this question.
Very Strong: The asset disclosure records of members of the state legislature are complete and detailed, providing the public with an accurate and updated accounting of the individuals’ sources of income, investments, and other financial interests.
Fair: The asset disclosure records of the members of the state legislature contain some useful information but may be lacking important details, including politically sensitive investment or other financial arrangements in which the individual has an interest.
Very Weak: The asset disclosure records of the members of the state legislature are overly general, lack any meaningful detail, and do not provide clear accounting of the individuals’ sources of income, investments, and other financial assets.

5. In practice, the asset disclosure records of members of the state legislature are accessible to the public online in a meaningful and accessible manner.

Notes: Citizens can access the financial disclosures of state lawmakers on the State Ethics Commission’s website at (http://hawaii.gov/ethics/findisc/legs). Honolulu Civil Beat obtained financial disclosures of state lawmakers, which were locked in pdf format. For example, the disclosure forms were handwritten and not easily searchable as pdfs, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. People have to click on each lawmaker’s name to access a pdf document of the statement. In addition, the financial disclosures are not required to be filed until the end of legislative session, according to Honolulu Civil Beat. That may pose a problem in identifying a potential conflict of interest.

Sources:

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Staff, 7/15/11, “Off The Beat: Handwritten Disclosures — In the 21st Century?”

• Honolulu Civil Beat, Robert Brown, 6/3/11, “Most Hawaii House Reps File Disclosures After Legislative Session”

Score: 25%

Scoring criteria: These are the scoring criteria for this question.
Very Strong: The information is available online and is as complete as possible, including any raw or meta data necessary to fully understand how the final information was generated. The information is primary source data, is made available in real-time or within a matter of weeks, is available to the public via an Application Programming Interface (API), and is machine readable. Anyone can access the information at any time, and there is no cost burden on the public in downloading or accessing the information. The information is archived and/or available online in perpetuity, and there are no licensing restrictions limiting its use.
Fair: The information is available online and is generally accessible, but some exceptions exist. Some information may not be machine readable (for example, locked in PDF format) and third-party programs or software may be required to process and use the information once it is downloaded. Certain licensing restrictions may impose a burden on sharing the information and/or analysis of the information.
Very Weak: The information is not available online or is available online in such a format as to render it useless for the majority of the public. Special skills and/or software are required to process the information, and the information is not machine readable and must be manually “scraped” in order to analyze it in bulk. Significant cost and/or licensing barriers pose major hurdles in the public accessing or using the information.

Discussion: