State Senate approves comprehensive public funding for ‘clean elections’ by 2028

The Hawaiʻi State Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 2381 Senate Draft 2 (SB2381 SD2), which would establish a comprehensive system of public financing for candidates seeking election to state and county public offices, beginning with the 2028 general election year.

The bill asserts that publicly funding the campaigns of candidates for state and county offices would increase public confidence in the State’s candidates and elected officials.

“Comprehensive publicly-funded campaign programs allow candidates to compete without reliance on special interest money and by also allowing elected officials to make decisions without the influence, or appearance thereof, of private individuals, lobbyists, political parties, political action committees, unions, corporations and other entities,” said State Sen. Karl Rhoads, Chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, who introduced the bill.

SB2381 SD2 now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration, where its companion bill, House Bill 2321, was introduced by Rep. Scott Saiki.

In 1978, Hawaiʻi Legislature added language to the Hawaiʻi State Constitution that established the partial public funding program, which candidates continue to use today.  Other comprehensive public financing programs, sometimes termed “clean elections,” were established in 1996 in Maine, in 1998 in Arizona and have since also been adopted in Connecticut and New Mexico. 

Both of the Hawaiʻi “clean election” bills were introduced in part to respond to the various corruption scandals in the islands, including the convictions of former Sen. J. Kalani English and former Rep. Ty Cullen.