Show us the relationship, please: The Sunshine Blog has been eagerly awaiting this year’s round of financial disclosure statements by state lawmakers, due Jan. 31 every year. This is the first time legislators are required to disclose financial relationships they or their spouse might have with a lobbyist.

In 2023, in a wave of ethics reform prompted by the federal bribery convictions of two of their colleagues, legislators passed a measure requiring lawmakers to report relationships that provided the lawmaker or spouse at least $5,000 in income in the previous year.

A committee report on House Bill 141 when it passed declared that “the public has a right to know who is in a position to influence legislators’ decisions. Requiring additional disclosures that include identification of business relationships with lobbying groups will assist in identifying potential conflicts of interest, as well as ensure greater public confidence in the integrity of legislators.”

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But alas, The Blog looked through all the legislators’ disclosures that had been filed as of Friday and not a single lawmaker reported any such relationships. So no lawmaker or their spouse worked for or received income from anyone who is a registered lobbyist or the business or organization that employs the lobbyist, according to the filings.

Maybe.

But The Blog wasn’t the only one who apparently found that a bit unlikely, considering there were 581 registered lobbyists and 498 lobbying organizations in 2024.

The filings have drawn a letter of concern from the Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission to legislative leaders.

“In a spot review of recent legislative submissions, we have noted a number of omissions, particularly in the reporting of spousal income,” commission chair Wesley Fong wrote Senate President Ron Kouchi and House Speaker Nadine Nakamura on Feb. 6. “To uphold the integrity of the disclosure process, the commission plans to conduct a more thorough review of filings.”

No names were mentioned, but Fong said the disclosures serve a constitutionally mandated purpose and “are essential for ensuring transparency, accountability, and public confidence in government.”

Fong told legislative leaders he’d give lawmakers until Friday to take another crack at their disclosures and file any amendments.

Best. Financial. Disclosure. Ever.: Here’s an excerpt from Sen. Brenton Awa’s recent filing. The Blog couldn’t help but wonder what was up with a tribal casino in Washington state.

Know when to fold ’em: And speaking of casinos, none will be coming to the Hawaiʻi Convention Center or the planned Aloha Stadium complex anytime soon. State senators killed the measure Thursday, barely a week after it was quietly introduced.

Sen. Lynn DeCoite, chair of the Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee, said the testimony in opposition was “overwhelming.”

It came from the likes of Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm, Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez and Nadine Ando, director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Also in opposition was Native Hawaiian activist Bumpy Kanahele, who testified in writing and in person.

“We believe that granting control over gaming development to external entities that do not represent the true interests of Hawaiians would be a grave disservice to our community,” he wrote.

DeCoite said she considered and appreciated all the testimony but explained that one reason for legalizing gaming would be to generate new revenue streams so the state does not have to “keep taxing and taxing the residents and the people in Hawaiʻi.”

The audience in Conference Room 229 at the Capitol applauded after DeCoite deferred the measure.

Ethical behavior: And speaking of the Ethics Commission, its annual report for 2024 is hot off the press.

The highlights include “a substantial increase” in the number of new ethics complaints filed over the last five years: from 65 in 2019 to 424 in 2024, representing a 552% growth. The trend, the commission speculates, is largely due to mandatory ethics training enacted in 2022 and an overall uptick in public interest in “ethics deficiencies.”

The report found there was almost a 99% training-compliance rate for high-level officials, reflecting “successful outreach and prioritization of ethics training among leadership.” Offices achieving 100% compliance include the Legislative Reference Bureau, the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Office of the Auditor, the Board of Agriculture and the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Some offices and boards fell at or below 75% compliance, however, including the Department of Budget and Finance, the Department of Education, the Department of Accounting and General Services, and burial councils on Oʻahu and Kauaʻi-Ni‘ihau.

Money bags: Civil Beat reporters downloaded the latest Campaign Spending Commission reports into a spreadsheet and came up with this news you can use: The top two recipients of campaign cash during the last six months of 2024 weren’t even running for office last year.

Gov. Josh Green raised more than $506,000 between July 1 and the end of the year. Kauaʻi Mayor Derek Kawakami, who plans to run for Senate when his term is up next year, raised $277,000.

Most of Green’s money (upwards of $266,000) came from out of state donors. Five employees from the California-based SBM Management, a facilities management company, donated a combined $30,000 to Green in August.

Donors with addresses in the Golden State accounted for a preponderance of those out of state donations, about $130,000.

Green’s campaign also reported raising about $54,000 from donors in Indiana. He held a fundraiser in Fort Wayne at the Sycamore Hills Golf Club last August.

The fundraiser’s host, Michael Gouloff, paid for airfare, valet, flowers and catering for the event, according to campaign spending reports.

Gouloff is also a partner in the firm Elevatus Architecture. Two Elevatus employees appeared to donate the maximum $6,000 to Green around the time of that fundraiser.

Kawakami, who is term limited, also raised most of his campaign money away from home.

Just 10% of his donations came from the Garden Isle. Almost all the rest of Kawakami’s $277,000 appeared to have come from a fundraiser his campaign held in September at the Pacific Club.

Among the top donors were employees of the engineering firm Bowers + Kubota, who donated a combined $10,000, and the law firm Kobayashi Sugita & Goda, who donated $9,100 in total.