The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to decide later today whether to gut the heart of the state’s ethics law by allowing charitable organizations to legally “bribe” lawmakers or other state employees by giving unlimited gifts of tickets to gala fundraisers or “educational” events.

HB2457 is on the committee’s 2 p.m. agenda for decision making.

The bill would would open the door to legal bribery by allowing gifts of unlimited value to be solicited or accepted by state employees and elected officials even if it is obvious “the gift is intended to influence the legislator or employee in the performance of the legislator’s or employee’s official duties or is intended as a reward for any official action on the legislator’s or employee’s part.”

It’s important to keep in mind that the freebies aren’t limited to legislators or to elected officials. All employees would get to vie for those rewards for official action they take. Trying to block an investigation of your business? Give the department head a couple of tickets to a benefit concert, and throw in a couple more for friends. Simple.

That, to put it bluntly, is an effective repeal of this important part of government ethics.

The issue was first raised by attorney-lobbyist Bill Kaneko last year after lawmakers were advised not to accept tickets to a fundraiser sponsored by the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs. Kaneko is the CEO of the group, chair of Governor Abercrombie’s campaign committee, and a key insider in the administration.

This year, Kaneko’s interest put the matter on Governor Abercrombie’s agenda, with the result that HB2457, and a Senate companion bill (SB2719) are part of the governor’s legislative package.

Both bills have single referrals, meaning that there are fewer points where public input can effectively block their passage.

I have to admit that I’m not an absolutist on the issue of inviting legislators to charitable events. When I served as executive director of Common Cause/Hawaii back in the 1980s, we routinely invited legislators who we felt shared our values to attend our modest fundraisers.

But I fear Kaneko harkens back to the good old days of the 1990s when he was director of Asian Pacific outreach for the Democratic National Committee, and rubbing shoulders with lobbyists and other power brokers at charity events was part of the political routine. Of course, that was a period that ended in scandal and prosecutions for illegal fundraising activities.

So how do we sort things out? I don’t agree with the assessment of John Temple, over at Civil Beat, who says any gifts of this kind would be too many.

On the other hand, the League of Women Voters pointed to an excellent article describing the lessons learned by convicted felon and former big league lobbyist, Jack Abramoff (“To my great shame“).

Abramoff had lots to say about how lobbyists work and the traps for public officials. Legislators may be doing things that are not illegal, but are wrong, he said. Legal lines are drawn, but these lines are not always “right.” Abramoff explained what he sees as a corrupt system. “No lawmaker believes he or she can be bought.” But government is composed of “ordinary, decent people who slowly accommodate themselves to a system that is rife with moral predicaments,” he said. Lobbyists build relationships and gifts from them make a person feel good, he warned. “Always be five steps ahead.”

So can HB2457 be whittled down to something acceptable? Possibly, in my view.

Here’s what I would do.

• Leave Section 84-11(a) intact, including the ban on soliciting or accepting gifts “under circumstances in which it can reasonably be inferred that the gift is intended to influence the legislator or employee in the performance of the legislator’s or employee’s official duties or is intended as a reward for any official action on the legislator’s or employee’s part.”

The ethics commission already has criteria for weighing whether invitations to events are acceptable, including whether the primary benefit is to the state (as in many educational programs) rather than the individual. Let the commission do its job.

• Within those constraints, permit charitable groups to invite elected officials–not all state employees–to their own fundraising events, so long as those invitations do not include multi-day events, travel or lodging, and the value is not unreasonably high. We can quibble over what is “unreasonable,” but certainly an agreement can be reached. And I don’t think the current $25 limit is reasonable. It’s one thing to attend a fundraiser downtown for the Hawaii Food Bank, it’s something quite different to accept a weekend at a neighbor island or mainland resort for an “informational workshop” under a charitable cover. If language can’t be crafted to distinguish the two, then it just won’t work.

• Require prompt reporting, similar to the notices of fundraisers required by the Campaign Spending Commission, whenever the charitable organization extending the invitation employs lobbyists or competes for government grants or contracts. These gifts should be disclosed prior to the date of the event, and disclosure should include the basic who, what, when, where, as well as both the face value of tickets as well as the actual cost to the donor organization.

I think that’s at least a place to start talking. Isn’t that what the legislative process is for?