HB 2069 Summary

• Establishes procedures requiring legislators and state employees to report protocol gifts to the state archives immediately upon receipt with a written record containing the gift description, date received, donor identity, and current location.

• Defines "protocol gift" as a tangible, nonperishable present given to a legislator or employee on behalf of the State or legislature from individual donors, government agencies, entities, or organizations (including foreign officials and federal officers) as a gesture of goodwill.

• Requires recipients to transfer protocol gifts to the state archives within a reasonable timeframe determined by the archives, but no later than the end of the recipient's term of office or employment.

• Places responsibility on gift recipients to maintain reasonable care of protocol gifts while in their possession and to provide original written records to the state archives at the end of their tenure; all protocol gifts remain property of the State.

• Excludes protocol gifts from the state ethics code's gift reporting requirements by adding them to the list of exempted gifts under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 84-11.5.