STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2440

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2528

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. 2528 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PARTIAL PUBLIC FINANCING OF ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Increase the expenditure limit and the amount of partial public campaign financing available for all elective offices;

(2) Adjust the minimum amount of qualifying contributions certain candidates must receive to participate in the Partial Public Financing Program;

(3) Increase the matching fund payments for excess qualifying contributions; and

(4) Appropriate funds for the Program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Campaign Spending Commission, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Indivisible Hawaiʻi, Imua Alliance, HULI PAC, Our Hawaii, and fifty-two individuals.

Your Committee finds that public financing levels the playing field for candidates without establishment backing and allows campaigns to focus on reaching voters instead of donors. Although the State has had a Partial Public Financing Program in place for decades, few candidates currently participate because the existing amount available through the Partial Public Funding Program has not been increased in over two decades and fails to provide sufficient resources to run competitive campaigns. This measure will make elections more competitive, expand the role of small donors, reduce candidates' dependency on narrow funding networks, and diminish the influence of corporate money in local politics.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Increasing the maximum amount of public funds available in each election to:

(A) Twenty percent of the expenditure limit for a candidate for the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu or County of Hawaii; and

(B) Twenty-five percent of the expenditure limit for a candidate for the office of state senator, state representative, Mayor of the County of Kauai or the County of Maui, county council member, or prosecuting attorney;

(2) Increasing matching fund payments to $4 for each $1 of excess qualifying contributions;

(3) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(4) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(5) Inserting an effective date of March 22, 2075, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider inserting an amount of $7,200,000 to increase the amount of funds available in the Partial Public Financing Program.

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. 2528, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2528, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair