The state Campaign Spending Commission isn’t giving up easily.

Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to resurrect four government reform measures next year that were rejected by the 2025 Legislature.

For two of the bills, it’ll be the fourth try. One would expand partial public campaign financing while another would prohibit elected officials from accepting campaign contributions during legislative sessions.

But the commissioners spent the most time Wednesday on a measure that would strike at the heart of Hawaiʻii’s pay-to-play political culture by closing a loophole that allows contributions to officeholders from people connected with state contractors and grantees.

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A Civil Beat/New York Times report in 2024 documented that nearly $1 out of every $5 donated to politicians came from people tied to companies doing business with state and local governments.

Currently, only the firms themselves are prohibited from making contributions, but for at least the last two sessions the Campaign Spending Commission has proposed bills that would prohibit such gifts from their officers and family members as well. The same restrictions would apply to recipients of government grants.

Versions of House Bill 371 were unanimously approved by the House and Senate last session, but because of differing amendments it was sent to conference committee. That’s where the legislative money chairs killed it with no explanation, as they do with dozens of bills every session.

Cutting Back The Restrictions

On Wednesday, commissioners didn’t talk about the bill’s frustrating last-minute demise. But they did address concerns expressed about the measure earlier in the session even as it was sailing through both chambers.

One complaint was the proposed restrictions would have applied to government contracts of all sizes. That prompted the Senate Judiciary Committee to amend it to apply only to construction contracts of $250,000 or more and contracts for goods and services of $100,000 or more, and the commission’s draft approved Wednesday preserves that amendment.

By the way, this is still a lot of contracts. Kristi Chang, the commission’s general counsel, said out of nearly 10,000 government contracts over the last five years, 2,837 were for more than $250,000.

Another concern was that the restrictions would have applied to all recipients of government grants, so commissioners changed the upcoming bill to apply only to grants of $100,000 or more.

That would still include the “vast majority” of about 100 grants approved by the government last year, Chang said.

Still, the change assuaged the concerns of Commissioner Barbara Polk, who said it was ridiculous for the restrictions to apply to people connected to nonprofits that received small grants.

Another concern that emerged last session was that the restrictions would apply to contributions across Hawaiʻi, including the county governments. For instance, why should someone connected to a Kauaʻi County contract be prohibited from donating to state-level candidates?

But commissioners stood fast on that one. It’s a small state, they said, and it’s not hard to imagine powerbrokers toggling between the state and county governments when it comes to buying influence.

Also Coming In January

Here are the other measures that commissioners approved sending to the Legislature on Wednesday:

Public campaign finance: There were a glut of bills relating to public campaign finance last session, and the commission’s proposal to partially increase the existing program got lost in the mix, Executive Director Kristin Izumi-Nitao said Wednesday.

But now the commission has $2.4 million in its public campaign finance fund, enough to expand the effort for next year’s primary if the Legislature approves, Izumi-Nitao said. A similar amount, however, would have to be appropriated for the general election.

Government reformers have long pushed for expanded or even full public campaign finance to level the playing field in a state where incumbents generally enjoy substantial financial advantages over challengers.

While the cost of full public financing would be “extraordinary,” Izumi-Nitao said, the commission’s proposal is something “we can afford.” She added that commissioners have been talking with House Judiciary Chair David Tarnas about “what it takes to win” next time around.

In-session contributions: Commissioners continue to believe that when the Legislature is meeting, there should be a statewide moratorium on contributions to elected officials.

Last session’s measure was amended by legislators so that it wouldn’t apply to county council members, “but we want to go back” to the statewide ban, Izumi-Nitao proposed to commissioners Wednesday. 

They agreed, again on the principle that influence peddling can transition seamlessly between the state and local governments in Hawaiʻi.

Refund policy: Commissioners are again pushing their proposed requirement that candidate committees return excess contributions to donors within 30 days. If they fail to do so, the money would go to the state’s election campaign fund.

Commission salaries: A new proposal would authorize the expenditure of up to $138,679 to raise commission staff salaries to “align with the compensation levels of similar legislative-branch agencies with compliance and enforcement duties,” including the state Ethics Commission.

Electronic records: Another new proposal would require that campaign finance forms be submitted electronically starting with the 2028 election cycle.