STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2823

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2454

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2454 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require a candidate or any individual authorized to receive contributions on behalf of a candidate or noncandidate committee to deposit the monetary contribution or other campaign funds into a depository institution within seven days of its receipt; and

(2) Require any elected official, candidate, candidate committee, or other individual required to file an organizational report who receives a contribution from a lobbyist to deposit the contribution within seven days of its receipt.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the League of Women Voters of Hawaii and one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Campaign Spending Commission.

Your Committee finds that existing law does not provide for a clear deadline by which a candidate is required to deposit a campaign contribution into a campaign account. Rather, existing law vaguely stipulates that a candidate "promptly" deposit a monetary contribution into a campaign account. This measure will strengthen campaign finance law, accountability, and transparency by replacing this requirement with a clear seven-day deadline.

It is your Committee's understanding that existing law makes a distinction between receipt of a monetary contribution by a candidate and the subsequent deposit by the candidate into the campaign account. Further, for contributions from lobbyists which are prohibited during the legislative session and the five days prior to and after the legislative session, current law requires that the contribution be received prior to the prohibited period and be deposited promptly; however, it is silent as to whether the deposit must also occur prior to the prohibited period. Your Committee believes it is important to specify that both the receipt and deposit of a lobbyist contribution shall occur prior to the commencement of the prohibited period. Your Committee notes that this measure will also codify a Campaign Spending Commission administrative rule that requires monetary contributions to be deposited within seven days of receipt.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a savings clause; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2454, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2454, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair