One of the most innovative and far-reaching bills at the State Capitol this year is poised for a final vote later this week thanks to last-minute amendments agreed on during floor sessions Wednesday.

The House and Senate still have to cast final votes on Senate Bill 2471, the so-called Citizens United bill, on Friday, the last day of the 2026 session. But both chambers voted unanimously to accept the amendments, suggesting that its chances of passage are strong.

SB 2471 is based on the concept that states like Hawaiʻi can limit the impact of Citizens United — the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed unlimited contributions by corporations to political action committees — by passing their own laws to change the way corporations are defined.

The bill contends that corporations are “artificial persons” created by state law and granted powers and privileges by it, and that those powers do not include spending money to influence elections. Lawmakers weren’t able to say on Wednesday whether the bill also applies to unions but a national expert, Tom Moore, senior fellow for democracy policy at the Center for American Progress who has been following the legislation, said unions are considered an artificial person and also wouldn’t be allowed to spend directly or indirectly in Hawaiʻi politics.

House and Senate lawmakers also gave final approval Wednesday to House Bill 1800, the $20 billion state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and voted in favor of automatic increases of up to 5% a year in shipping rates for the next three years for interisland shipper Young Brothers.

More: Young Brothers Held On To $26M In State Money To Cover Its Costs

In all, the House and Senate approved more than 220 bills Wednesday, including one to transfer $55 million to the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs to cushion the shock of anticipated reductions in federal funding for Hawaiian educational, health and other programs.

SB 2471 almost died in conference committee Friday when it barely survived a vote before a legislative deadline. Government-reform groups like Clean Elections Hawaiʻi feared that changes made to the bill in the committee might have made it more vulnerable to a legal challenge.

But the floor amendments, introduced Wednesday in the Senate by Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole and in the House by Rep. Scott Matayoshi, removed language in the bill that would have granted the Attorney General’s Office the authority to interpret the law rather than being adjudicated through any court challenges.

“It undermines legislative independence and reduces accountability to the public who elect lawmakers and not the attorney general to make politics policy decisions,” GOP Rep. Kanani Souza said in a floor speech.

Good-government groups also applauded the changes.

“We are extremely grateful to Chair Matayoshi and Senator Keohokalole for listening to legal experts and the voices of the public in strengthening SB 2471,” Clean Elections Hawaiʻi spokesperson Evan Weber said after the vote, adding that a final vote Friday would “send a clear message — that going forward, unlimited corporate spending has no place in Hawaiʻi politics.”

The advancement of the Citizens United bill came as legislators in both chambers acted on dozens of measures ahead of Friday’s conclusion of session. Other important bills passing Wednesday included Senate Bill 3125, which was also altered Wednesday with what were described as minor technical amendments. The bill preserves much of the historic tax cuts approved by the Legislature in 2024.

Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, who led the efforts to preserve the tax cuts this session, urged his colleagues to vote in favor both measures.

“This all goes hand-in-hand with responsible budgeting,” he said on the floor. “The final version of SB 3125 upholds the promise to deliver meaningful tax relief for roughly 90% of Hawaiʻi households. Preserving this tax break means less money for state, for the state in tax revenues. However, the Legislature protects these tax breaks through cost-saving measures in the budget and beyond.”

Live And Let Die

Among the hundreds of bills that did not survive the 2026 session were ones banning the harvesting of aquarium fish, repealing the hotel tax on cruise ships, empowering property insurers to collect payments from oil and gas companies, tapping the conveyance tax to help fund the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and allowing a tax credits for family caregivers.

Also dying were measures to increase penalties for some firearms offenses including carrying one while under the influence, repealing the law outlawing drug paraphernalia, requiring probation with mandatory treatment for habitual dangerous intoxication and issuing citations in lieu of arrest for nonviolent petty misdemeanors excluding DUIs.

All died in conference committee, which concluded Friday with little explanation from lawmakers about what happened to the legislation.

Bills that did pass this year are ones to help counties dispose of feral chickens, have the state move toward regulating e-bikes, help protect education workers and sports officials from harassment, create a new cesspool low-interest loan conversion program and force AI operators provide greater disclosure to users especially when minors are involved.

House members lavished particular praise on Senate Bill 903, which authorizes transfer of $55 million from a state trust account to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for Native Hawaiian education, health, economic development and community-based initiatives.

House Majority Caucus Leader Kirstin Kahaloa told her colleagues the bill sets a clear path to resolve long-standing controversies over how much OHA should receive as its share of ceded land revenue. It also is the one that stands to help cope with the risk of federal cuts to Hawaiian programs.

“Where the federal government is stepping back from its responsibilities to Indigenous communities, we will not,” she said. “When the federal government has failed Native Hawaiian communities here at home, we will not. We will step forward.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has once again proposed deep cuts to Native Hawaiian programs, and the state money is designed in part to counter those cuts. The trust account is funded with Public Lands Trust Funds that are owed to OHA, but are limited by an annual cap.

Three bills that would allow Hawaiʻi to respond to and resist federal immigration efforts also passed. A bill making a person arrested for or charged with a crime but convicted of a violation eligible for an expungement of their arrest record for that incident also passed. And another bill requiring the state to cover $20 million for claims against the state was expected to be approved Friday when the House agrees to accept the Senate’s draft of the measure.

Lawmakers also gave approval to Senate Bill 2694, which grants Young Brothers automatic rate increases of up to 5% per year for the next three years to offset inflation and other expenses. Those rate increases will come on the heels of a huge increase of 25.75% that took effect on Jan. 1.

Young Brothers, which has a near-monopoly on interisland shipping, contends the automatic rate increases are needed to allow shipping rates to keep up with actual cost increases and provide more predictable shipping costs. The measure passed 35-15 in the House, and 20-0 in the Senate.

The session is set to conclude Friday. Gov. Josh Green has until June 30 to announce any potential vetos, and then until July 15 to issue a final veto list or let bills become law without his signature. The Legislature could then choose to hold a one-day special session that same day to override any vetoes.