Hawaii is on a collision course with legal precedents that allow corporations to pump billions into elections after its governor signed a first-of-its-kind campaign finance reform bill into law.
The bill, SB 2471, was crafted to curb political spending by leveraging the state’s ability to define the powers of a corporation. Due to the new law’s sweeping implications for political speech and elections, it seems almost certain to draw legal challenges.
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In 2010, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which asserted that independent corporate spending on elections is a form of protected speech. The ruling famously nullified past guardrails on political spending, and contributed to the formation of so-called “super PAC” political action committees, which can support their chosen candidates with unlimited corporate backing.
Though it does not directly dispute that corporations have a right to political speech, the new Hawaii law says that, since the powers of corporations are granted by states, the state can decline to grant corporations the power to spend on elections in the first place. The new law is set to be enforced in 2027.
