Today's Disclosure, Yesterday's News

Flickr:Daveiam

Hawaii's citizens have no means of scrutinizing their representatives' current financial ties as lawmakers begin the legislative session Wednesday.

The result of a loophole in the state's ethics laws, the most up-to-date income information available to the public is as much as two years old, raising the question of its value in determining possible conflicts of interest.

State law stipulates that all elected and appointed officials (except judges) must file a public financial disclosure for the previous calendar year's activity. The filings are due between Jan. 1 and May 31 of each year.

A Civil Beat investigation found that the vast majority of legislators file after the session adjourns.

This means that if politicians file their 2010 calendar year disclosure between April 29 and May 31, 2011, they will be filing after the 2011 legislative session concludes. By filing so late, it's likely that the next time that the information would be newsworthy is the 2012 legislative session, long past any vote that could appear to have been influenced by a financial relationship.

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