State House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan has asked the House leadership to investigate whether state Rep. Jerry Chang violated House rules by not disclosing his potential financial interest in a deal involving a new motor-sports complex.

Finnegan, R-32nd ('Aliamanu, Airport, Mapunapuna), wants the House to form a special committee to investigate whether Chang broke the House's code of conduct, which discourages lawmakers from using the prestige of their offices to advance private interests.

The Advertiser reported last week that Chang, D-2nd (Hilo), has a 25 percent ownership interest in a company that offered land in Hilo to the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in exchange for a department parcel in Kalaeloa that could be used for a new racetrack.

Chang explained that if the department would have agreed to the exchange, he would have negotiated to sell the Hilo land to Mike Oakland, the president of the Hawai'i Motorsports Center, who would have then made the swap for the Kalaeloa parcel.

Oakland has said he was looking at land on the Big Island for a land swap but did not confirm until Friday that it was the land Chang partially owns.

Chang and Oakland had worked together on a $50 million tax credit to help attract investors to a new motor-sports complex that would replace Hawai'i Raceway Park, which closed this month.

But after questions from The Advertiser, Chang told House lawmakers about his potential conflict, and the tax-credit bill was quickly killed.

Finnegan, in a letter to state House Speaker Calvin Say, wrote that the matter should not be over. "House rules were violated," she wrote, "and the measure stood one floor vote away from going to conference committee and possible enrollment to the governor."

Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo, Wilhelmina Rise), sent Finnegan a memo that said he wanted to meet with Chang and let him respond to the complaint before he decides what to do with her request.

Chang said Friday he does not believe he violated the code of conduct because he never had a formal offer with the department or Oakland to sell the Hilo land. Asked whether he should have disclosed his potential financial interest in the racetrack deal sooner, he said: "I don't think so."

The House has the authority to police its own members and the speaker can appoint special investigatory committees. Lawmakers who have broken House rules or engaged in other misconduct can be censured, suspended or expelled by their peers.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.