Reluctant Standards Commission Proposes Term Limits For Hawaii Lawmakers 2 The panel also forwarded a bill on legislative meetings but will take more time to examine proposals on public records, meetings and a state voters guide.
A measure that would impose a 16-year term limit on service for state legislators narrowly cleared the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct Wednesday even as members who wrote the proposal raised concerns over possible negative impacts on policymaking in Hawaii.
The proposed bill won approval on a 4-to-3 vote of the commission members. Nikos Leverenz, Ethics Commission Director Robert Harris and Janet Mason voted “no.” Retired Judge Dan Foley, the commission chairman, former lawmaker Barbara Marumoto and Honolulu Deputy Prosecutor Flo Nakakuni voted “yes.”
Campaign Spending Commission Director Kristin Izumi-Nitao broke a tie and voted yes, saying she did so “only because I think we owe it to the public to move it forward and hear what people have to say about this. If it dies, it dies.”
