Action Alert: Public Funding Deserves a Chance
Action Alert: Public Funding Deserves a Chance
Campaign spending reform bills are moving — and your voice matters now.
There has been significant public outcry over campaign finance in Hawaiʻi. The question is whether lawmakers are actually listening.
Aria Castillo recently spoke with Ashley Mizuo about the reform bills still alive this session:
“We just haven't really seen the lawmakers kind of embrace the need for change… A lot of people have said that this is an isolated incident, this is just one lawmaker. For the majority of us, this isn't how business is handled. I think the bigger picture is not getting through to them, and I think it's probably because they're comfortable in their seats and they know how to work this system as it is.”
That concern is not new. Last year, efforts to close the contractor loophole and strengthen Hawaiʻi’s partial public funding program both died in conference last minute without leadership sign-off. Many advocates worry the same thing could happen again this session.
HPR’s The Conversation recently featured Ashley alongside Judge Dan Foley and Colin Moore in a discussion about public corruption and campaign finance reform. One key point: Hawaiʻi’s partial public financing system dates back to the 1978 Constitutional Convention, but it has not kept pace with the realities of modern campaigns. The real question is whether lawmakers are willing to modernize it.
The conversation also acknowledged a common objection: some people do not want tax dollars used to fund campaigns. But cleaner elections and a stronger democracy are not separate from the needs of vulnerable communities. They are part of how we ensure those communities are represented and protected.
Meanwhile, dark money remains a serious threat. One of the bills up this week, SB2471, directly attempts to address that problem by redefining how state-chartered corporations can spend money in elections. It may face legal challenges, but it is a serious effort to confront the kind of outside influence too many leaders only talk about.
As these bills head toward conference, now is the time to contact your State Senator and State Representative and tell them to support meaningful campaign finance reform.
Contact information for all lawmakers is available on the Legislature’s website.
A number of priority bills are being heard this week. Even if you cannot submit full testimony or attend in person, logging in and clicking “Support” with your name and location still puts your voice on the record.
Good Government Priority Bills (see below for talking points and sample testimony)
The following high-priority bills are being heard on March 18
SB2471 - End Citizens United in Hawaii
SB2447 - Statute of Limitations for Campaign Spending Violations
SB2528 - Partial Public Funding Improvements
SB2737 - Failure to Report Bribery
SB2982 - Ban Foreign Influence on Campaigns
The following high-priority bills are being heard on March 19
SB2530 - Close Contractor Contribution Loophole Ban
The following high-priority bills are being heard on March 20
HB1519 - Close Contractor Contribution Loophole Ban (rescheduled from GVO to JDC, if you submitted testimony to GVO, you need to resubmit)
End Citizens United in Hawaii
Hearing in CPC on Wednesday March 18th, at 2:00 pm; Conference Room 329
What Does This Bill Do?
SB2471 SD2 reaffirms that corporations and other artificial persons chartered under state law, including for-profit corporations, nonprofits, LLCs, and partnerships, do not have the power to spend money to influence elections or ballot measures. It revokes all prior broad grants of corporate power and regrants only those powers necessary to carry out lawful business purposes. Any election spending by a covered entity is declared void, and violating corporations forfeit their charter privileges. The bill does not restrict the rights of any natural person.
Sample Testimony
Personalized testimony is the most impactful way to influence lawmakers. Please use this as a guide to draft your own words.
Aloha Chair Matayoshi, Vice Chair Grandinetti, and members of the Committee,
I'm submitting testimony in support of SB2471 SD2. Corporations are legal creations of the State. They exist because the State grants them the privilege to exist, and the State has every right to define what powers come with that privilege. The power to spend money on elections was never supposed to be one of them.
{Insert additional comments here}
SB2471 SD2 makes that explicit. It strips election spending out of the powers granted to corporations and other artificial persons under state law, while leaving every natural person's rights completely intact. That's the right call.
Please pass SB2471 SD2.
Mahalo,
Your Name, Town
Statute of Limitations for Campaign Spending Violations
Hearing in JHA on Wednesday March 18th, at 2:00 pm; Conference Room 325
What Does This Bill Do?
SB2447 SD1 changes when the five-year statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions of campaign finance violations begins to run. Currently it starts on the date of the violation or the date the relevant report was filed. This bill changes that to the date the Campaign Spending Commission discovers the violation.
Sample Testimony
Personalized testimony is the most impactful way to influence lawmakers. Please use this as a guide to draft your own words.
Aloha Chair Tarnas, Vice Chair Poepoe, and members of the Committee,
I'm submitting testimony in support of SB2447 SD1.
Right now, the clock on campaign finance prosecutions starts running from the date of the violation, even if that violation was hidden and nobody knew about it yet. That means by the time the Campaign Spending Commission discovers wrongdoing, it may already be too late to prosecute.
{Insert additional comments here}
SB2447 SD1 fixes this by starting the five-year clock when the Commission actually discovers the violation. That's how statutes of limitations should work when misconduct is concealed. Campaign finance laws are only a deterrent if they can actually be enforced.
Please pass SB2447 SD1.
Mahalo,
Your Name, Town
Partial Public Funding Improvements
Hearing in JHA on Wednesday March 18th, at 2:00 pm; Conference Room 325
What Does This Bill Do?
SB2528 SD1 updates Hawaiʻi's partial public financing program, which hasn't been significantly changed since 1995. It increases expenditure limits for all offices to account for inflation, raises the maximum amount of public funds candidates can receive, and increases the matching fund payment from $1-to-$1 to $4-to-$1 for excess qualifying contributions. It also lowers minimum qualifying contribution thresholds for some offices to make the program more accessible, and appropriates funds to support the program.
Sample Testimony
Personalized testimony is the most impactful way to influence lawmakers. Please use this as a guide to draft your own words.
Aloha Chair Tarnas, Vice Chair Poepoe, and members of the Committee,
I'm submitting testimony in support of SB2528 SD1.
Hawaiʻi's partial public financing program is a good idea that has been stuck in 1995 for thirty years. The cost of running a campaign has gone up significantly while the program's funding levels haven't kept pace. That means it's become less and less useful for the candidates it was designed to help.
{Insert additional comments here}
SB2528 SD1 fixes that by updating expenditure limits, increasing available public funds, and raising the matching rate to 4-to-1. That last change especially makes small-dollar fundraising genuinely competitive. When candidates can win with community support instead of big-donor backing, everyone benefits.
Please pass SB2528 SD1.
Mahalo,
Your Name, Town
Failure to Report Bribery
Hearing in JHA on Wednesday March 18th, at 2:00 pm; Conference Room 325
What Does This Bill Do?
SB2737 SD1 creates a new misdemeanor offense for state elected officials who know about or witness bribery and fail to report it within sixty days. Reports can be made to the Attorney General, a county prosecutor, a law enforcement agency, the State Ethics Commission, or a county ethics board. The offense applies to all state elected officials whose salaries are set by the Commission on Salaries.
Sample Testimony
Personalized testimony is the most impactful way to influence lawmakers. Please use this as a guide to draft your own words.
I'm submitting testimony in support of SB2737 SD1.
Hawaiʻi has seen multiple legislators face corruption charges in recent years. And one of the hardest parts of that to reckon with is the question of who knew and said nothing. SB2737 SD1 addresses that directly by making it a misdemeanor for a state elected official to witness or know about bribery and fail to report it within sixty days.
{Insert additional comments here}
This is a targeted, workable requirement. It doesn't ask officials to act on rumors. It asks them to report what they actually know or witness, with multiple reporting options and a sixty-day window. That's a reasonable standard for the people we trust with public power.
Please pass SB2737 SD1.
Mahalo,
Your Name, Town
Ban Foreign-Influenced on Campaigns
Hearing in JHA on Wednesday March 18th, at 2:00 pm; Conference Room 325
What Does This Bill Do?
SB2982 SD2 expands Hawaiʻi's ban on foreign money in elections to cover foreign-influenced business entities, meaning companies where foreign investors hold significant ownership or have a role in political decision-making. It prohibits those entities from making contributions, expenditures, or electioneering communications in state elections. It requires for-profit businesses that spend money in state elections to certify under penalty of perjury that they are not foreign-influenced. And it requires noncandidate committees making only independent expenditures to obtain similar certifications from their top contributors.
Sample Testimony
Personalized testimony is the most impactful way to influence lawmakers. Please use this as a guide to draft your own words.
Aloha Chair Tarnas, Vice Chair Poepoe, and members of the Committee,
I'm submitting testimony in support of SB2982 SD2.
Hawaiʻi bans foreign nationals and foreign corporations from contributing to our elections. But that ban has a gap. A company with significant foreign ownership can still pour money into our campaigns as long as it's technically incorporated here. That doesn't make sense.
{Insert additional comments here}
SB2982 SD2 closes that gap by prohibiting foreign-influenced business entities from making contributions, expenditures, or electioneering communications in state elections, and by requiring businesses that do spend money in our elections to certify they aren't foreign-influenced. Our elections should be decided by the people of Hawaiʻi, not foreign investors.
Please pass SB2982 SD2.
Mahalo,
Your Name, Town
Close Contractor Contribution Loophole Ban
Hearing in JHA on Thursday March 19th, at 2:00pm; Conference Room 325
What Does This Bill Do?
SB2530 SD2 expands existing prohibitions on political contributions from state and county contractors to also cover grantees, as well as the compensated officers and immediate family members of both contractors and grantees, for contracts of $100,000 or more for goods and services, $250,000 or more for construction, and grants of $100,000 or more. It requires disclosure of the names of covered officers and their immediate family members to the Campaign Spending Commission, which must make that information available to candidates and committees through a password-protected database. Any unlawful contributions must be returned within 30 days or they go into the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund.
Sample Testimony
Personalized testimony is the most impactful way to influence lawmakers. Please use this as a guide to draft your own words.
Aloha Chair Tarnas, Vice Chair Poepoe, and members of the Committee,
I am writing in support of SB 2530, SD2.
Right now, while a company holds a state contract, its officers and their family members can still make political contributions to the officials who oversee that contract. And organizations that receive state grants face no contribution restrictions at all. That creates an obvious appearance of pay-to-play politics even when no wrongdoing occurs.
{Insert additional comments here}
SB 2530 closes these gaps by extending contribution prohibitions to officers and family members of contractors and grantees above certain thresholds and requiring disclosure of their names. Government contracts and grants should be awarded on merit, not on the basis of political relationships.
Please support SB 2530, SD2.
Your Name, Town
Close Contractor/Grantee Loophole Ban
Hearing in JDC on Friday March 20th, at 10:15 am; Conference Room 016
What Does This Bill Do?
HB1519 HD1 strengthens Hawaiʻi's campaign finance law in two important ways. First, it expands the existing ban on campaign contributions by state contractors to also cover the paid officers of those contractors and their immediate family members. Second, it extends those same prohibitions to organizations receiving state grants over $250,000. It also requires disclosure of who those officers and family members are, so the public can actually verify that the rules are being followed.
Why HB 1519 HD1 Matters
Right now, a company can win a million-dollar state contract, and while the company itself can't write campaign checks, its CEO and their spouse can. And organizations receiving hundreds of thousands in state grant funding face no contribution restrictions at all. HB1519 HD1 closes both of those gaps. When public money is on the line, the public deserves to know who is benefiting and whether those same people have political access to the officials who control the purse strings.
What Amendment is Needed
Right now, the current bill is limiting the ban only to the same branch of government awarding or administering the contract and have removed county contractors and officers. The Campaign Spending Commission has warned that restricting the ban this way undermines the intent of the bill and leaves open obvious workarounds. The Commission also noted that contractors have sometimes gotten around contribution bans by routing donations through connected individuals, including officers, family members, and even reimbursed straw donors using false names. We recommend removing the same branch of government restriction and including officers and the immediate family members of county contractors to the ban.
Sample Testimony
Personalized testimony is the most impactful way to influence lawmakers. Please use this as a guide to draft your own words.
Aloha Chair Rhoads, Vice Chair Gabbard, and members of the Committee,
I'm submitting testimony in support of HB1519 HD1.
This bill closes a loophole that honestly should have been closed a long time ago. Right now, a company can hold a state contract and the company itself can't make campaign contributions, but the CEO and their family members can.
HB1519 HD1 fixes this by extending those contribution restrictions to officers and their immediate family members for the life of the contract or grant, and by requiring public disclosure of who those people are. When public money is involved, the public deserves to know what's going on.
Please insert the amendments recommended by the Campaign Spending Commission. Limiting the contribution ban only to the same branch of government awarding or administering the contract weakens the bill and fails to reflect how corruption actually happens. CSC has warned that contractors can get around these bans by having connected individuals make contributions on their behalf, including situations involving reimbursed or false-name contributions. Removing the same-branch restriction and including officers and their immediate family members helps ensure the law captures these workarounds rather than inviting them.
{Insert additional comments here}
I urge the committee to strengthen and pass HB1519 HD1.
Mahalo,
Your Name, Town
New to Legislative Engagement? Learn more about how to engage in the Legislative Session!
Make sure you have set up your account on the Hawaiʻi State Legislature website. If you are new to the process, see this helpful page on legislative engagement 101 from the Public Access Room including a link on how to submit testimony!
Mahalo for taking action!
