A Maui County Council committee is trying to make it harder for public employees to outrun ethics complaints by quitting: on Tuesday, members voted 9-0 to recommend extending the enforcement window from one year to six. The proposal would also reach back to alleged violations that occurred before the change, setting up a potentially significant test for Maui’s still-evolving government watchdog.
The Government Relations, Ethics and Transparency Committee approved a substitute version of Bill 55-2025, according to Maui Now. The rewrite would measure the six-year period from the alleged act, rather than from the employee’s departure, and would place retroactive language directly in the county code. Mayor Richard Bissen requested the bill through Council Chair Alice Lee, and it now heads to the full Council for first reading.
The Proposed Six-Year Ethics Clock
Bill 55 began as an amendment to Section 2.56.010 of the Maui County Code, relating to ethics violations and penalties. The County’s posted bill text describes the underlying change as allowing the Board of Ethics to retain jurisdiction for up to six years after an officer or employee leaves County employment. The substitute version approved Tuesday instead ties the window to when the alleged violation occurred.
Maui’s current system creates an unusually narrow escape hatch for former employees. The Board of Ethics says on its official priorities page that jurisdiction can disappear as soon as a respondent resigns, even when the board has already found probable cause to pursue a complaint.
Retroactive Reach And A Fraud Exception
The retroactive clause is the sharpest edge of the proposal, although it would not itself establish that anyone committed an ethics violation. It would determine whether older alleged conduct could still be investigated under the new six-year framework if the Council ultimately passes the measure and it becomes law.
The recommended version also includes a discovery rule for violations concealed through fraud, according to Maui Now’s report. In those cases, the clock would begin when the alleged violation was discovered, or when it reasonably should have been discovered, rather than automatically running from the original conduct.
Maui’s Ethics Office Is Still Being Built
The push comes as Maui County expands an ethics operation that was largely volunteer-run until recently. The county says voters approved a 2024 charter amendment allowing the Board of Ethics to hire independent full-time staff, and the new office was established in August 2025 to investigate complaints, review disclosures and advise county officials.
Hoodline previously reported that Executive Director and Legal Counsel Lauren Akitake’s first 100-day update focused on building staff capacity, improving public guidance and expanding ethics education. The six-year proposal would add a longer enforcement runway to that institutional rebuild, while leaving the full Council to decide whether the new authority is broad enough—and sufficiently protected from political misuse.
