Senate Judiciary Committee advances public-financing bills, judiciary budget and criminal-law measures; expungement transmission deferred

The Senate Committee on Judiciary advanced a slate of bills on April 23 that would reshape campaign-finance administration, add funds and positions to the judiciary, and update criminal statutes addressing fentanyl and a proposed torture offense, while deferring a technical expungement transmission measure for further coordination.

The committee voted to pass SB 51, the comprehensive public-financing proposal, with amendments that delay the program start date to 2028 and ask that staffing and appropriation details be put in the committee report rather than fixed in the bill. Gary Kam, representing the Campaign Spending Commission, told the committee, "the Hawaii election campaign fund has a balance as of the end of last year of little under $2,200,000 and that is nowhere near enough to, pay for a comprehensive public funding program." Committee action made the proposed new staff positions permanent in committee reporting and directed a later effective date for the program.

The committee also approved SB 118, which establishes a permanent investigator position for the Campaign Spending Commission, after the commission explained it has not had an investigator since a prior appropriation lapsed and that lawyers on staff are currently fulfilling investigative duties. "We just we need an investigator," Kam said, adding that contested-case hearings create conflicts when attorneys are also witnesses.

On the judiciary budget, the committee passed SB 260 with amendments that add…