State Sen. Josh Green has paid a $300 administrative fine and submitted an amended financial disclosure form in an agreement with the state Ethics Commission.
Green, D-Kona, on Thursday characterized the issue as “a clerical error,” adding that he’s consistently filed the required annual financial disclosures, but “I put the basic information in the wrong box.”
“I made a clerical error in my filings which I immediately corrected when it was brought to my attention,” Green said. “Many thanks to the Ethics Commission for their prompt guidance and assistance.”
The Ethics Commission, releasing its report (http://files.hawaii.gov/ethics/advice/ROI2016-2.pdf) Tuesday, said Green immediately filed an amended report March 8 when notified of the errors by commission staff.
Still, the report noted, the error had gone on since 2011.
“The commission believed that Senator Green should have exercised greater care when completing his financial disclosure statements,” the report stated.
The commission, which receives and evaluates more than 1,900 forms annually, started investigating Green’s financial disclosures following a March 3 article on the Honolulu news website Civil Beat.
Civil Beat questioned Green’s residency, asking if he indeed lives in his Kona district, since he is a state legislator and lists the Honolulu-based Hawaii Independent Physicians Association as an employer in addition to Kohala Hospital.
State lawmakers are required by law to live in and be a registered voter for the district they represent.
“I live in Holualoa,” Green said. “I also have a place to stay in Honolulu, but my home is in Holualoa.”
Green actually owns two condos, a three-bedroom unit and a one-bedroom unit, in Honolulu.
He rents rather than owns his Holualoa home on Mamalahoa Highway.
He declined to say where his two young children go to school or give details about where his family lives while he’s in Honolulu. Green said he deals with controversial issues in the Legislature, and threats have been made against him in the past.
“I never talk about my family,” he said.
The senator, who’s been in the Legislature since 2004, says he spends about half of his time on each of the two islands.
“It’s a real challenge to split your time between the Capitol and home, but I do my best,” Green said.
Details such as TMK numbers and addresses about personal property owned by the filer or spouse and dependent children aren’t required on financial disclosures, but details about investment property are. At issue for the Ethics Commission was one of the two Honolulu condos, which should have been listed by TMK number and address as investment property, since Green doesn’t live in it.
“The Commission has not issued a charge against Senator Green in connection with this matter and the resolution of the investigation does not constitute an admission by Senator Green, or a determination by the Commission, that Senator Green violated the State Ethics Code,” the report added.
“As discussed herein, the Commission believes it is fair and reasonable to resolve this matter without further administrative action.”
Susan Yoza, interim executive director for the Ethics Commission, said she couldn’t comment on how serious the ethics case was or what staff recommended to the commission, aside from what is in the report.
“The amount of the fine was rather low,” she said.
“That’s usually an indication of the nature of the violation.”
