Hawaii Proposed Legislation Seeks to Change Campaign Finance Laws - State and Federal Communications

January 11, 2019  •  

Hawaii Proposed Legislation Seeks to Change Campaign Finance Laws

The Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission submitted four measures for introduction in the 2019 legislative session, proposing changes for Super PACs, candidate committees and electioneering communications.

Proposal CSC-01 (19) would change the disclosure date for electioneering communications to when the electioneering communication is publicly distributed rather than when the contract for the electioneering communication is executed. Additionally, the expenditure aggregate would be increased to $2,000, all mailings and not just those sent at bulk rate would be covered, and candidate and noncandidate committees would be required to file statements of information.

Proposal CSC-02 (19) would require candidate committees to file a first Preliminary General Report on October 1.

Proposal CSC-03 (19) would impose a $5,000 fine on Super PACs that received at least one contribution of more than $10,000 from any one person or spent more than $10,000 aggregate in an election period and would permit the fine to be up to three times the amount of the unlawful contribution or expenditure. The measure would also call for the fine to be paid from the personal funds of an officer of the noncandidate committee.

Finally, Proposal CSC-04 (19) would require candidates who do not intend to have more than $1,000 in activity to provide notice to the Commission of such intent by June 30 of an election year and to require noncandidate committees who do not intend to have more than $1,000 in activity to provide notice to the Commission of such intent by the fifth calendar day prior to the due date of the Preliminary Primary Report.

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