Hawaii’s pioneering, bipartisan effort to fight corporate and dark money spending in elections is a model for rest of country

Today, following Hawaii state legislators’ decision to pass a bill with bipartisan support to fight corporate and dark money spending in elections, Issue One released the following statement:

“With this legislation, Democratic and Republican legislators in Hawaii have blazed a new trail to curb the undue influence of big money in politics and end secret spending in campaigns,” said Issue One Director of Money in Politics Reform Michael Beckel.

Beckel continued: “This legislation is among the most innovative and impactful ideas to fight corporate and dark money spending in campaigns since the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling in 2010. Legislators and policymakers across the country should follow in these footsteps to bring more transparency and accountability to our elections.”

Background:

Modeled after the ballot initiative in Montana to combat corporate and dark money spending known as The Montana Plan, Hawaii Senate Bill 2471 would rewrite the law from which corporate charters draw their authority and stop giving corporations the power to spend unlimited sums of money in elections.

Last year, Issue One commissioned a poll from YouGov to measure support for this idea, asking respondents whether they would support a similar proposal in their own state. After respondents were exposed to messaging from both supporters and opponents, 72% of Americans said they would support such a reform, including 81% of Democrats, 64% of Republicans, and 60% of independents. Only 12% of respondents opposed the idea.

Earlier this year, Hawaii Senate Bill 2471 unanimously passed in the state senate (including all three Republican state senators), and it later passed in the state house, after being amended, with near-universal support (including eight of the 10 Republican state representatives).

In recent days, a conference committee resolved the differences between the Senate-passed and House-passed versions, and today, lawmakers in both chambers approved the final version, including all Democrats and all but one Republican. Unless the governor vetoes the bill, it will become law.

The one GOP state lawmaker who changed his mind and supported SB 2471 after previously voting against it was state Rep. Garner Musashi Shimizu (R-HI).

“I previously voted no on this measure,” Shimizu said. “But on this final reading, I’m deciding to take a braver step of faith and courage… Hawaii and this 2026 legislature has the chance to make history, to reset a new precedent, to eliminate unlimited money sources that totally affect our elections and bring back some sanity and sanctity to our voting process.”