Campaign Spending Commission

The Commission would like to inform you of the following campaign finance bills which were passed during the 2019 legislative session and signed into law:

1.  Act 8, SLH 2019 (H.B. 165)

Governor David Ige signed H.B. 165 into law as Act 008 on April 15, 2019. Act 008, effective upon approval, amends HRS §11-339 by requiring candidate committees to notify the Commission by June 30 of an election year in the candidate committee’s organizational report, and noncandidate committees to notify the Commission by the fifth calendar day before the due date of the preliminary primary report in the noncandidate committee’s organizational report, that they do not intend to receive contributions, or make expenditures, that aggregrate more than $1,000 in an election period.

2. Act 107, SLH 2019 (S.B. 197 H.D. 1)

Governor David Ige signed S.B. 197 H.D. 1 into law as Act 107 on June 21, 2019. Act 107, effective on July 1, 2019, amends HRS §11-381 by allowing charitable donations and scholarship awards prior to the day after the general election if a candidate is declared to be duly and legally elected to the office for which the person is a candidate, or is unsuccessful in the primary or special primary election. Donations to charities and scholarship awards are currently prohibited from the filing of nomination papers through the general election for charitable donations, or from the nomination paper filing deadline through the general election for scholarship awards.

3. Act 241, SLH 2019 (S.B. 138 H.D. 1)

Governor David Ige signed S.B. 138 H.D. 1 into law as Act 241 on July 2, 2019. Act 241, effective upon approval, amends HRS §11-334 by requiring a preliminary report on October 1 of an election year for candidates that are on the ballot and another report on April 30 of an election year for candidates who file nomination papers by April 25 of an election year.