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Hawaii law aims to curb corporate influence in elections but faces hurdles - The Garden Island.Hawaii law aims to curb corporate influence in elections but faces hurdles Gov.Josh Green has signed into law a measure that aims to restrict campaign spending activity by corporations and other so-called artificial persons, in a legislative victory for the anti-Trump administration group Indivisible Hawaii, which championed the bill.Senate Bill 2471 “limits the powers that the state grants to corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, associations, and other artificial persons,” according to the legislation.Those powers do not include spending money or contributing “anything of value to influence elections or ballot measures,” the legislation states.The new law attempts to bypass the effects of the U.S.Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v.Federal Elections Commission, which has paved the way for corporations and other outside groups, including labor unions, to spend unprecedented amounts of money on U.S.elections.Green signed SB 2471 into law on May 14 as Act 011.In announcing the new law, Green’s office said it “restricts certain political spending activities by corporations and other ‘artificial persons’ under Hawaii law by redefining and limiting the powers granted to those entities.Political action committees will remain governed by existing campaign finance laws within the state, but they will not be able to spend any money received from corporations as a result of this Act.“This bill is intended to strengthen transparency, reduce the influence of corporate money in elections and help restore public trust in Hawaii’s democratic process,” the announcement said.Some lawmakers credited Indivisible Hawaii’s advocacy for helping get the bill passed and signed into law.The group has grown to nine chapters statewide and has organized several large rallies in the islands since President Donald Trump returned to power in 2025.Indivisible members “were pushing this bill pretty heavily,” said state Rep.Scot Matayoshi (D, Kaneohe- Maunawili), who served on the joint Senate-House conference committee that kept the measure alive at the last minute despite concerns from nonprofits, unions and others.“Indivisible is very good at mobilizing people to make calls and send emails to legislators to bring an issue to the forefront,” Matayoshi said.“So, I think that’s their big strength.” Indivisible’s outreach to legislators in support of SB 2471, Matayoshi said, “made it easier because everyone was aware of it and knew that there was public pressure to have this bill heard and pass.But it made it harder because when this bill was first introduced it had a lot of pretty major problems that could have hurt local unions and nonprofits.” The bill had been stuck in conference committee over concerns that limiting campaign activities for “non humans” will hamper Hawaii’s unions, nonprofits and other entities.Matayoshi recommended a compromise to pass the bill but delay it from going into effect until July 2027, leaving it up to next year’s Legislature to fine tune it.“Everyone’s going to be taking a good hard look at this bill and we’ll be talking to make sure that we can tweak it to not harm Hawaii organizations, or as little as possible,” Matayoshi said.Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission officials lauded the new law as reflecting Hawaii’s “leadership role” in campaign finance policy.“Through this law, Hawaii affirms its commitment to protecting the integrity of fair elections,” the commission said in a news release Tuesday.“Now that Act 11 has become law, the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission will conduct a comprehensive review of its processes and procedures with the goal of revising them to ensure consistency with the requirements of the new law.” Opponents of the legislation included Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez, who wrote that SB 2417 “purports to revoke all corporate powers granted by Hawaii law in their entirety and then re-grant powers pursuant to the new law.This type of drastic legal maneuver alone may create significant unforeseeable impacts from actions regarding all Hawaii corporations at such scale.” Lopez added, “Hawaii has no ability to define the corporate powers of foreign corporations, which are governed by the state laws where they are incorporated.The theory simply does not account for how Hawaii can regulate the speech of foreign corporations when it does not grant the powers of those corporations, and this is logically and legally fatal.” While it was meant to counter Citizens United’s impact, the Hawaii law restricts enforcement to state-regulated organizations, so it has also raised concerns that it actually might allow entities incorporated in other states to fill the void in political spending in the islands.On May 12, Indivisible Hawaii held a small rally at the state Capitol to encourage the governor to sign SB 2417 into law.“Do not capitulate in advance because of claims this Act won’t survive in court.Look at the universities, law firms and media corporations that bent the knee to Trump, only to see those that stood up to him prevail in court,” Lisa Gibson, Indivisible Hawaii’s founder and statewide network lead, said in a news release.Grassroots effort Gibson, a 75-year old retired vice president at Hawaii Public Radio in charge of marketing and fundraising, said national Indivisible Project leaders linked her to emails they received from Hawaii following Trump’s reelection and the statewide Indivisible chapter was born.“Because I came out of nonprofit organizations, I knew how to create a mailing list and I knew how to get organized from the very beginning, and that’s what we did,” Gibson said.Colin Moore, who teaches public policy at the University of Hawaii, said Indivisible Hawaii represents “a true grassroots organization.” “There isn’t some moneyed interest behind it, which is increasingly rare because there are lots of organizations that pretend to be grassroots organizations that present themselves as your friends and neighbors getting together,” Moore said.“In reality, they’re run out of some office complex in Arlington, Va.” Moore called Indivisible’s expansion across the islands “remarkable for an organization that doesn’t have the kind of formal ties to the lobbying organizations or unions or political groups that tend to have that kind of reach.They tap into people’s deep, deep frustrations with the Trump administration.But they’re using their mobilization to also exercise some power and influence at a local level.” The group and its members are now looking ahead to this year’s primary and general elections.Mona Eisa, a 36-year-old restaurant server who said joining Indivisible’s Honolulu chapter ignited a political awakening in her, is looking forward to engaging in local races for the first time.Before attending opening day of the legislative session in January, Eisa had never been to the Capitol and only voted in presidential races.“Being with Indivisible over this last year and seeing how everything works, I will never not vote in local elections again,” she said.This year, beginning with the Aug.8 party primaries leading up to the Nov.3 general election, all 51 state House seats are up, along with 13 of the 25 Senate seats.There are also races for governor, lieutenant governor and both of Hawaii’s congressional seats.Local elections, Eisa said, “are more important than federal elections because these are people who focus on the day-to-day where you live and are making policies for you.”