County Ethics Watchdogs Need More Money To Do The Job Right, State Panel Says 4 The Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct says the grants will beef up bare-bones budgets that now exist in all counties except Honolulu, which spends more on its ethics board.
A statewide commission wants Hawaii’s county ethics watchdogs to have more funding to monitor, and if need be, investigate public officials after a string of public corruption cases put a spotlight on government ethics and transparency.
Unlike the Honolulu Ethics Commission, with 11 full-time staff and a total budget over $650,000, the ethics boards for Kauai, Maui and Hawaii island operate with either no funds or very little to cover travel or food expenses. Their staffs are usually limited to a secretary and attorney in the county’s corporation counsel office, both of whom may have other responsibilities outside of helping the all-volunteer ethics board.
A recent proposal from the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct asks the Legislature to appropriate one-time grants for the county ethics commissions. The amounts have not been determined yet.
