The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday passed unanimously a bill to establish a comprehensive public financing system for political candidates running for state and county offices who agree to abide by campaign fundraising and expenditure guidelines.
If passed into law in its current form, Senate Bill 1543, introduced by Senate Judiciary Chairman Karl Rhoads, an Oahu Democrat, would begin with the 2024 elections.
The bill would appropriate up to $30 million from the state’s general fund into a special elections campaign fund.
The bill notes that comprehensive public financing, sometimes called “clean elections,” was established in 1996 in Maine and in 1998 in Arizona and have since been adopted in Connecticut and New Mexico.
The program would be modeled after an expired Hawaii County pilot program that disbursed $363,060 in public funds to 16 candidates in the 2010 and 2012 County Council elections. The statewide program also would be guided by Maine’s Clean Election Act, according to the bill.
The bill had several co-introducers, with Sen. Joy San Buenaventura, a Puna Democrat, signing on in support.
The legislation has garnered 152 pages of written testimony with only seven written testifiers in opposition.
Testimony in support came from, among others, the state Campaign Spending Commission, former state Sen. Russell Ruderman of Puna, former Hawaii County Councilwoman Margaret Wille, former state Sen. Gary Hooser of Kauai, former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, former Kauai Mayor JoAnn Yukimura, retired Judge Daniel Foley, University of Hawaii political scientist Colin Moore, Common Cause, and Global HOPE.
Candidates who choose to participate in the public financing program would, after obtaining the required number of $5 donations from voters, be barred from soliciting, accepting or using contributions from any source other than the program’s public funds.
The number of qualifying contributions would vary depending on the office sought. Amendments suggested by Rhoads and passed by the committee include raising the number of qualifying contributions in House races from 100 to 125 and in Senate races from 200 to 250. He also added amendments requiring a progress report 40 days before the 2024 Legislative session and a full report on the program 40 days before the 2026 session.
In addition, Rhoads changed the bill’s effective date from July 1 this year to March 22, 2075, to continue discussion on the subject should the measure not pass this session.
“I would like to keep this alive in terms of what we’re looking at for ethics reform and campaign spending reform this year,” Rhoads said. “I think it could be an important piece, but obviously, there’s a lot ideas and bills out there about similar topics.”
The legislation now goes to the Ways and Means Committee, which hasn’t yet set a hearing.
Nate Hix, director of Living Wage Hawaii, told the committee it’s time “to end money’s influence in politics.”
“Right now, winning elections requires a lot of money, and right now, a few amount of donors are providing a significant amount of campaign funds,” Hix said. “The last election cycle, 980 donors provided half of all the money received by candidate committees. Each of these 980 donors gave at least $6,000 during the last election cycle.
“That’s a significant consolidation of political power. That’s not very democratic, right?”
Hix said the bill, if passed, would allow candidates to receive funds “based on the support from their own constituents.”
“That’s how a democracy should work,” he said.
Sergio Alcubilla, executive director of Hawaii Workers Center, said his organization represents many low-wage earners.
“When we’re fighting for paid family sick leave, on the other side that’s going to be against it, of course, are the businesses,” he said. “When we’re fighting for mandatory paid breaks, on the other side is going to be Amazon.
“How are workers going to be able to compete with that? When they’re able to give $5, $10, $20 in donations, there’s some of these corporate (political action committees) that are giving thousands of dollars.”
Kristen Alice testified for HOPE Services Hawaii, a nonprofit providing services to the homeless on the Big Island.
“This is the most important bill of the session,” Alice said. “… We can’t look at anything else until we look at this and fix the root of the problem.”
Alice said if this bill passes, “we may not need ” a bill introduced by GOP Sen. Brenton Awa — since shelved by the Judiciary committee — that would’ve levied a 75% tax on Hawaii residential property sold by out-of-state residents.
“Because the housing crisis, with all due respect, was created by a governance problem, and the legislators who do try to do the right thing might be overshadowed by the ones … who are beholden to those who donated to their campaign the most,” she said.
“It’s the reciprocity principle. When someone does something for you, you want to do something back for them. And that can get to even the most honest person who gets into office.”
A companion measure, House Bill 967, hasn’t been scheduled for a committee hearing.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.