A proposed program that would publicly finance election campaigns in Hawaii is dead after a Big Island lawmaker concluded last week that the plan was fatally flawed.
Senate Bill 2381, often referred to as a “clean elections” bill, would have allowed candidates for certain public offices to receive state funding to support their primary or general election campaigns.
The measure, which was transferred to the House late last month after progressing through the Senate, generated broad support since its introduction this legislative session, with boosters praising its potential to reform electoral politics, which many believe has become dominated by wealthy donors buying political favors.
But the bill has been shelved. On March 14, the House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs voted to defer the measure, ending its otherwise steady progress through the Legislature.
Kohala Rep. David Tarnas, who chairs the committee, told the Tribune-Herald that he had no choice but to kill the measure after concerns raised by the state Campaign Spending Commission about the lack of resources necessary to conduct such a program.
“The bill just didn’t have the necessary resources for the program,” Tarnas said. “And my committee isn’t able to add in those resources again to a Senate bill.”
Kristin E. Izumi-Nitao, executive director of the Campaign Spending Commission, said her office has very limited resources, and that the final version of SB 2381 did not allocate any funds or new staff positions.
“There are only five of us in this office,” Izumi-Nitao said, explaining that the nature of SB 2381’s program would require much more work than her office is able to provide given its current level of staffing.
For example, Izumi-Nitao said, candidates would be required to raise a certain amount of $5 qualifying contributions in order to avail themselves of public campaign funding — a gubernatorial candidate would have to provide $31,250 from 6,250 $5 donations, while a Big Island mayoral candidate would need only $500.
But each of those qualifying contributions would have to be confirmed by the Campaign Spending Commission, Izumi-Nitao said, which would be an extraordinary amount of work for an office of five people.
Tarnas said a previous draft of the bill did include language that would allocate nonspecific resources to the commission, but that language was removed during a previous committee hearing.
While Tarnas said he was disappointed by the failure of the measure, he emphasized that the Senate could still bring the program to fruition this session. A similar bill from 2023, SB 1543, is technically still alive after stalling out last year and could be resurrected by motivated lawmakers, although Tarnas acknowledged that it is rare for bills to be revived in this way.
“If the Senate really wants this, they could put the resources back in the bill,” Tarnas said. “SB 1543 can still be fixed up. I had a choice between a flawed bill with no appropriations and a better bill from last year, and I chose the better bill.”
Advocates for the measure have urged lawmakers to not let it die.
The Clean Elections Hawaii Coalition held a rally Monday at the state Capitol in Honolulu, calling on House Speaker Scott Saiki to keep the bill alive.
“There is not a soul in the Legislature that can deny the efficacy of this program in bringing more Native Hawaiian and other underrepresented voices into our democracy in a meaningful way,” said Camron Hurt, program manager of Common Cause Hawaii, at the rally.
“Yet, when it is time to make true systemic change and not just pay lip service, the people are without a champion.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.