Times do change, and sometimes for the better!

No, I’m not just saying that because it’s my birthday and I’m trying to feel really good about the passage of time.

What prompted the comment today is my discovery that the financial disclosure statements filed by state judges are now available to the public online via the Judiciary’s website.

While ostensibly public, these used to be closely guarded by the Supreme Court Clerk. Anyone wishing to examine a judge’s disclosure had to sign a form and the judge would be notified. As you can imagine, this was enough to discourage most attorneys from taking a peek. I went through the files several times in the past, and it wasn’t unusual to see that perhaps one other reporter and maybe an attorney or two were the only people who had looked at any of the forms over the previous year.

Now it is completely different, and what a refreshing change it is!

From the Judiciary website:

Judges and justices are obliged to not permit personal financial interests influence their judgment. See Hawaii Revised Code of Judicial Conduct, Rule 2.4; HRS § 601-7(a). In most instances, a judge will voluntarily recuse from participating in a case when the judge’s interests or the interests of the judge’s immediate family might be affected. In other instances, a party may move to disqualify the judge. In rare instances, a “rule of necessity” will require a judge or a panel of judges or justices to hear a case in spite of a conflict of interest. See, e.g., Schwab v. Ariyoshi, 57 Haw. 348, 555 P.2d 1329 (1976).

To provide information by which a litigation party can determine whether to move to disqualify a judge for pecuniary conflict, and to provide information from which disciplinary authorities can determine whether a judge should have recused, Rule 15 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii (RSCH), requires full and part-time judges to publicly disclose financial interests. The disclosures required by RSCH Rule 15 are like the disclosures required of certain Hawaii State executive and legislative officers and employees.

Judges from the Supreme Court down to part-timers in district courts are listed alphabetically, and are not broken down by court or circuit.

The disclosure categories are similar to those used by elected officials, who file with the State Ethics Commission. Sources of income for the person filing and their spouse, creditors, real estate owned, sold, or purchased, fiduciary positions held, and business ownership (including stocks owned).

The discovery made my day!