Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Campaign Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House committee advances bill limiting corporations’ ability to spend from treasuries on elections amid constitutional debate
Summary
A House Judiciary committee moved SB 2471 to conference after hours of testimony that split business regulators, the attorney general and advocates. Supporters framed the bill as a states’ rights fix to dark money; the Attorney General warned it poses serious First Amendment risks and could invite costly federal litigation.
The House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs voted April 8 to advance Senate Bill 2471 to conference committee after lengthy testimony that sharply divided legal and civic stakeholders.
SB 2471 would reaffirm that artificial persons created under state law ‘‘possess only those powers that are necessary or convenient to carry out lawful purposes’’ and would remove or limit prior grants that, according to sponsors, have allowed entities to spend treasury funds to influence elections. Supporters said the proposal narrows corporate powers granted by the state and would prevent corporations from directly spending corporate treasuries on campaigns or ballot measures.
"This bill will allow Hawaii to show the rest of the country what free and fair elections really look like," said a representative of Indivisible Hawaii, arguing the change would reduce the influence of large donors. Tom Moore of the Center for American Progress urged legislators to treat the measure as a legitimate state exercise of corporate-power definitions rather than a direct regulation of political speech.
But the Department of the Attorney General cautioned lawmakers that SB 2471 "relies on an untested legal theory" and could be subject to a federal constitutional challenge. "Nothing in the court's current composition indicates that Citizens United will be overturned," a Deputy Attorney General testified, urging the committee to defer the measure.
The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs told the committee the agency lacks the regulatory structure and staff to enforce sweeping new limits on corporate powers without additional appropriation and significant rulemaking. DCCA’s director said the department currently registers tens of thousands of entities and does not regulate political spending, so implementing the bill would be a major expansion of duties.
Supporters noted prior state constitutional language and statutory provisions they say give states authority to define entity powers, and several witnesses described political spending by corporate treasuries as a bipartisan problem that states should be able to address. Opponents warned the bill targets a broad class of organizations, including small nonprofits and unions organized as corporations, and could strip lawful advocacy channels.
The committee adopted technical amendments and said the committee report will note the Attorney General’s constitutional concerns and the DCCA’s statement that an appropriation may be required for enforcement. The bill will go to a conference committee, where committee staff said they will accept memos and written proposals for conference consideration.
Outcome and next steps: The committee advanced SB 2471 to conference committee with amendments; the committee report will record AG and DCCA concerns and potential budget implications. Any legal or implementation questions are likely to be tested if the measure moves forward in conference or onto final passage.
