Campaign Spending Commission

HAWAII CAMPAIGN SPENDING COMMISSION
ANNUAL REPORT
Fiscal Year July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025

INTRODUCTION

The Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission’s (“Commission”) mission is to maintain the integrity and transparency of the campaign finance process by enforcing the law, educating the public, administering public financing, and training campaign committees in order to encourage compliance.  The Commission is guided by a Strategic Plan to assist the organization in shaping its future, set longer term priorities, and to establish a framework to make decisions and allocate resources.  This report discusses activities as applied to the Strategic Plan that occurred in fiscal year 2025 covering the period July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 as well as documents other significant events.  It also includes a discussion of future considerations for fiscal year 2026.

STRATEGIC PLAN

GOAL – TO IMPROVE CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS AND RULES TO INCREASE TRANSPARENCY, COMPLIANCE, AND ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE PROCESS.

• Review existing laws as well as propose and submit legislation as needed. For the 2025 legislative session, the Commission submitted four (4) bills to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the Senate for introduction.  Unfortunately, none of these bills passed.  Specifically, they were bills that:  (1) increased the partial public funding program and established two full-time positions in the Commission; (2) extended the pay-to-play state and county government contractor ban to grants-in-aid recipients as well as officers and immediate family members of the government contractor/grantee; (3) prohibited elected officials from soliciting and accepting contributions during legislative session; and (4) escheated any excess cash contribution over $100 to the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund.  Notably, these bills were previously introduced in the 2024 legislative session.  The Commission will continue its efforts to advocate for these bills in the future.

Two (2) bills that passed this session that were not Commission bills but the Commission supported because they will increase transparency and accountability in campaign finance are:

Act 19 (S.B. 1202) – RELATING TO CAMPAIGN FINANCE

Effective 4/22/25, under Hawaii Revised Statutes (“HRS”) §11-381(a)(1), candidates are permitted to use campaign funds to pay for childcare and vital household dependent care costs that would not have been incurred but for the candidate’s participation in the candidate’s own campaign activity.

Act 64 (H.B. 413, H.D. 1, S.D. 1) – RELATING TO LOBBYIST CONTRIBUTIONS

Effective 5/16/25, under HRS §11-365 and §97-5, lobbyists are prohibited from making, or promising to make at a later time, any contributions or expenditures to or on behalf of an elected official, candidate, candidate committee, or any other individual required to file an organizational report pursuant to §11-321 five calendar days before, after, and during legislative session which means a period in which both legislative houses are in session.  Violations will be handled by the Commission and the State Ethics Commission.

Other bills that were introduced by other parties which did not get signed into law concerned variations of the public funding program including comprehensive or full public funding as well as concerns over foreign influences.  The Commission appreciated efforts proposed in several other bills to increase its staffing.

• Review existing rules and procedures as well as propose administrative rules as needed.

The Commission reviewed its Schedule of Fines which was adopted pursuant to Hawaii Administrative Rules (“HAR”) §3-160-73(a).  After the conclusion of the 2024 election, the Commission considered revisions to the fine schedule at five (5) of its public HRS Chapter 92 Sunshine meetings, and on 6/18/25, approved a fine schedule that made a change to the eligibility and application of Conciliation Agreements which will go into effect on 2/2/26 which is the due date of the Supplemental Report with a closing reporting period of 12/31/25 for all candidate and noncandidate committees.

Specifically, effective 2/2/26, only new candidates and noncandidate committees will be eligible for a Conciliation Agreement which must be approved by the Commission at a public meeting pursuant to HAR §3-160-74 and will reduce the administrative fine in five (5) areas of violations as set forth in the Schedule of Fines (i.e., Schedules 2A.1 (Disclosure Reports – but does not include the reports due 10 days before an election set forth in 2A.2), 3H (Excess Contributions), 3I (Nonresident Contributions), 5D & 5E (Advertisements), and 7A (Electioneering Communications)).  New candidates are defined as candidates who appear on the ballot for the first time or who have not appeared on a ballot for the previous four years, regardless of whether they terminated their committee registrations with the Commission or are running for another office.  New noncandidate committees are defined as committees who are registering with the Commission for the first time or who may have terminated their registration, but who have not reregistered with the Commission for the previous four (4) years.  Conciliation Agreements and reduced fines will no longer be available after December 31st of an election year.  (*Note:  The Supplemental Report covering the period ending on December 31 of an election year will be considered part of the first year’s reports and available for a Conciliation Agreement, although it is not due until January 31 of the following year.)  Committees who do not terminate their registrations with the Commission are responsible for filing all required reports after December 31 and will be fined as continuing registered committees for failing to do so.

Further, new candidates and noncandidate committees may receive up to two reductions in each of the five (5) designated violations.  For the first violation in each of the designated violations, new committees are eligible to pay 1/3 of the fine, and for the second violation in that designation, they are eligible to pay 2/3 of the fine.  There will be no reduction for the third violation in that designation.  Lastly, reductions will not apply to fines of $25 or less and will not count towards the two violations eligible for reduction in each of the designations.

Otherwise, there were no changes to the Commission’s administrative rules and procedures during this fiscal year.

GOAL – TO PROVIDE TRAINING, EDUCATION, AND ACCESS TO COMMITTEES FOR PURPOSES OF COMPLIANCE WITH, AND INCREASING AWARENESS OF, CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS AND RULES. 

• Offer and provide training on campaign finance laws and rules. Twenty-nine (29) cyber-learning training modules were revamped due to enhancements in the electronic filing systems and incrementally posted from July to December 2024 on the Commission’s website for committees to view in the 2024 election.  Committee guidebooks and manuals were available on the Commission’s website for 24-hour remote access. 

• Provide educational and informational materials on how to comply with campaign finance laws and rules. In preparation for the 2024 election, the Commission reviewed and revised its training modules which are all available on the Commission’s website (i.e., guidebooks, manuals, cyber-learning videos, and powerpoint presentations).  The Commission continues to publish a bi-annual newsletter for distribution by email in January and July to inform the committees, public, and anyone else who has signed up for our email distribution of reminders, new laws going into effect, tips, and other relevant topics on compliance and Commission matters. 

• Evaluate the effectiveness of and explore (and implement as needed) new methods of training, education, and communication of information. Current efforts to communicate with committees have been successful – especially, our website, e-blasts, and X posts.  The Commission will continue to identify other mechanisms to communicate with multi-generational audiences and employ such tools as needed or if appropriate. 

The Commission continues to work with the Office of Elections and county clerks in providing informational packets to give to candidates who file their nomination papers.  When candidates file their nomination papers, Office of Elections has included on their Candidate Profile worksheet a section that the candidate initials acknowledging that he/she understands that they need to register with the Commission and file reports.  This has been very beneficial.  Prior to each election, the Commission meets with Office of Elections and county clerks to address any new concerns/issues as well as to ensure that the process of certifying candidates’ compliance with campaign finance laws is operating properly so that the winning candidates are able to be sworn into office. 

• Direct the committees to the Commission’s website and continue to improve web-based information as well as other social media applications. For purposes of transparency, much of the Commission’s operations, business, and finances are posted on the Commission’s website including Commissioners’ biographies, meeting agendas and minutes, newsletters, advisory opinions, Hawaii Election Campaign Fund (“HECF”) trust fund information, annual reports, campaign finance statistics, and the Strategic Plan.  We continue to evaluate our website and update it to include new links for First Time Candidates, commonly asked FAQs (election and non-election year), a payment link to pay fines, and election summaries.  Information of current interest is constantly identified and posted on the Commission’s website including statute and rule changes, legislation, reporting deadlines, enforcement issues, and new informational and technological tools.  There are also links for viewing reports, filing reports, seeking guidance including cyber-learning presentations, forms, guidebooks, and qualifying for public funding.  Based on the results of our annual online survey, we understand that our website continues to be our strongest resource in providing stakeholders and interested parties with campaign finance information.  As such, we continue to fine-tune our website with a focus on building more efficient and user-friendly navigation tools which includes a searchable database of all the campaign finance data filed by committees.  We have also included a section on our home page for our latest X posts and highlighted the candidate and noncandidate committee data visualization apps.  These updates are done at zero cost to the Commission.  During this period, we had 352,275 “hits” or event counts to our website.

The Commission regularly uses e-blasts as well as Facebook and X posts to inform and educate committees and the public on campaign finance topics.  We have found the e-blasts to be especially effective in sending out time sensitive information such as reporting deadline reminders and changes in the law.  It also permits us to notify interested parties about registering for training classes, publication of new educational tools, and other campaign finance information.  Efforts to not overuse the email system and reserve it for distribution of important announcements is always a consideration.  During this period, the CSC email system was employed 111 times and we have 1,059 total subscribers.  Notably, subscribers are separated into three groups – candidates (427 subscribers), noncandidate committees (250 subscribers), and the public (382 subscribers), thereby permitting us to target relevant audiences with the e-blast.

Since July 2011, we have been employing social media tools such as Meta (formerly known as Facebook) and X (formerly known as Twitter) to leverage our capabilities to increase, enhance, and supplement our communication efforts to inform the public of important and time sensitive campaign finance information.  During this fiscal year, we issued 277 X posts with a total tally of over 18,221 impressions or times a post has been seen.

Furthermore, the Commission has an ongoing partnership with the State of Hawaii’s Office of Enterprise Technology Services (“ETS”) to improve the Commission’s two statutorily required electronic filing systems for candidate committees and noncandidate committees which provides us with the campaign spending data that we use to provide transparency in elections to the public.

The candidate committee dashboard app was launched at the end of fiscal year 2018 which consolidated campaign spending data filed by candidates and provided for better comparative analyses of the data by office, party, and reporting period, continues to be very helpful and had 20,157 “hits” or event counts during this period.  Its success helped the Commission to seek funding to build the noncandidate committee dashboard counterpart which we launched on March 18, 2020, and had 1,040 “hits” or event counts       during this period.  This dashboard app was a powerful addition to the candidate dashboard app which consolidates campaign spending data filed by noncandidate committees including Super PACs and provides for better analyses of the data thereby permitting the public to see in a more visually engaging and interactive way how noncandidate committees are stacking up against one another in the area of contributions received, contributions made to candidates, expenditures and independent expenditures made. 

• Encourage the committees to contact the Commission and/or visit the Commission’s office to assist in compliance with campaign finance laws and rules. This position has always been emphasized.  The Commission handles numerous phone calls, walk-ins, and inquiries daily.  A computer is located in our office for committees to file their reports and to seek our assistance.  Committees were encouraged to make appointments to visit the office and were assisted over the phone and via email. 

• Issue advisory opinions as requested. The Commission issued and approved two (2) advisory opinions during this period.  Advisory Opinion No. 25-01 concerned the use of campaign funds to pay for childcare expenses and Advisory Opinion No. 25-02 concerned the use of campaign funds to pay for dependent care expenses incurred by the candidate while running for an election.  The Commission opined that both of these expenses were directly related to a candidate’s campaign, and thus, permissible under HRS 11-381(a)(1) .  Notably, the Commission retracted both of these Advisory Opinions when the Governor signed Act 19 in the 2025 legislative session into law on 4/22/25. 

GOAL – TO INCREASE EDUCATION, AWARENESS, AND ACCESS FOR THE PUBLIC. 

• Inform and educate the public about campaign finance laws and rules. The Commission disseminates to the public information concerning campaign finance by posting anything new/interesting on our website under “What’s New,” publishing bi-annual newsletters, and e-blasting, and posting on X as well as Meta.  New laws, legislation, guidance, updates to the guidebooks and manuals, updates to the electronic filing systems, and new forms are examples of what the Commission e-blasts and X posts. 

• Explore and implement improvements to the Commission’s online presence and other media applications to provide the public with campaign finance committee data and information. The Commission continues to promote its searchable database, data visualization applications, candidate committee dashboard, and noncandidate committee dashboard which are available to anyone on the Commission’s website.  The candidate committee and noncandidate committee data visualization applications permit viewers to see the data reported by over 700+ committees in a more visually attractive, user–friendly, and dynamic way for a particular election period.  These applications were conceived to provide greater transparency and accountability in political campaigns to enable the public to follow the money of candidate committees’ and noncandidate committees’ participation in Hawaii elections.  The candidate and noncandidate committee dashboards further help the public (and committees) to see contributions and expenditures from candidates and/or noncandidate committees (including Super PACs) in a comparative format.  For candidates, the format is arranged by office, party, and reporting period.  For noncandidate committees, the format is arranged by noncandidate committee type (standard, ballot issue, independent expenditure, political party) and the area, scope, or jurisdiction of a noncandidate committee.

Further, at the close of each election, election data is compiled, sorted, analyzed, and summarized in charts, top 10 lists, and cost per vote.  These election summaries are all available and posted on the Commission’s website under a designated link.

GOAL – TO EXPLORE, EXAMINE, AND IMPLEMENT TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES AND CAPACITIES TO IMPROVE ACCESS, REDUCE PAPERWORK, AND INCREASE COMPLIANCE.

• Increase the Commission’s capability to process and analyze reported data.  During this period, the Commission implemented the rewritten noncandidate committee electronic filing system completed in time for the 2024 election.  The rewrite was completed by ETS in the last fiscal year using a new code generator software called ScriptCase which was a replacement to CodeCharge being used by ETS. This new software allowed ETS to rewrite the filing system in the most current version of the PHP language and enhance some of the system’s features such as creating a single data entry point for entering transactions into our schedules, auto filling names when data is entered, and allowing Commission staff to add reporting deadlines to reporting schedules based on a candidate or noncandidate committee’s reporting track.  In the 2023 fiscal year, the Commission completed the rewrite of the candidate filing system in time for the 2022 election.

The Commission continues to rely on its searchable database to run queries on various campaign finance issues.  Providing a searchable database to the public is a statutory mandate so the Commission has posted its candidate and noncandidate committee datasets on the State’s open data platform provided by Socrata since 2012.  Furthermore, as a result of the State phasing out the Socrata contract in August 2020 and switching to OpenGov which is the new provider of the State’s open data platform, the Commission also added its candidate and noncandidate committee datasets (searchable database) to this new site which it did with the launch of the OpenGov site on May 13, 2020.

The Commission continues to work with Socrata under its own contract to host its datasets on the Commission’s designated open data site which provides data to its dashboards through the 2024 election, and has completed the redevelopment of these dashboards on the OpenGov platform as a contingency for the future of our dashboards.

• Maintain awareness of newer technology, including electronic filing systems and hardware/software or applications, for consideration of integration and/or implementation.  The Commission works closely with ETS and as a result has benefitted from their expertise and assistance in scaling and maximizing our hardware/software applications.

The Commission continues its employment of eSign forms for committees to use as an additional and alternative way to submit forms.  The tool was made available through ETS’ commitment to employ new technology to improve government efficiency, services, and communication.  The success of eSign is tremendous, and reflects the public’s interest for convenience and completing forms in an expedited manner.  During the reporting period, we have received and processed 699 eSign documents.

Effective January 2018, the Commission extended an alternative payment method for those committees fined to achieve a higher level of compliance and offer better convenience to the committees.  Specifically, committees who were assessed an administrative fine were informed that they would have the option to pay their fine not only by check, money order, or cash, but with a credit or debit card online via PayPal using their PayPal account or a guest account.  The committees were informed that there would be no fee to use this alternative option and that the Commission opted to absorb the fee of 3.49% of the total payment plus $0.49.  The Commission however noted that if at any point in time the Commission was unable to afford these fees or the fees were approaching the state procurement threshold, it would notify the committees that it would have to stop accepting online payments.  During this fiscal year, the Commission received 150 payments via PayPal totaling $42,388.82, which included payments for administrative fines and escheats.

The annual COGEL conference is another source from which we learn about other campaign finance systems and technology.  During this period, the Commission submitted a request to the Governor, DAGS, Budget and Finance, and the Hawaii State Legislature to obtain $2.2 million in funding for a new electronic filing system in consideration of newer technology and a more sustainable future.  With the assistance and support of these entities, the Commission successfully obtained the funding and is in the process of procuring the services needed to fulfill the Commission’s objectives.

• Maintain awareness of the implications of technological changes on all aspects of campaign finance.  The annual COGEL conference has been a great venue for the Commission to learn about technological changes or advances employed by other campaign finance offices.  As a result of attending these conferences, the Commission was aware of technological advancements in electronic filing systems, and as such, requested and successfully obtained $2.2 million in funding for a new system in consideration of newer technology, artificial intelligence, and a more sustainable future. 

GOAL – TO OBTAIN COMPLIANCE WITH CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS AND RULES THROUGH ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS. 

• Develop escalating penalties for repeat and gross violations, and disseminate information about the penalties. The Commission continues to find that there are some candidate and noncandidate committees who do not file their reports.  As such, the Commission has been invoking administrative fines pursuant to HRS §11-410(a) as a means to take a stronger punitive stance to those committees who completely fail to file reports by the statutory deadline or violate campaign finance laws.  The Commission further finds that there are some candidate and noncandidate committees who do not comply with Commission orders when a campaign finance violation has been determined.  To this extent, the Attorney General’s Office – Civil Recoveries Division has been assisting the Commission to obtain judicial enforcement of Commission orders.  There were 5 referrals this fiscal year to the Civil Recoveries Division. 

The Commission filed 21 complaints this fiscal year (an election year) and addressed 5 complaints filed by third-parties which resulted in a total of $10,950 in assessed administrative fines.  Of the total amount of fines assessed, $5,250 was collected from 9 committees while $1,800 remains outstanding due to 5 committees who failed to pay resulting in a referral to the Attorney General’s Office – Civil Recoveries Division.  There were 6 complaints that were withdrawn due to compliance.  A summary of the complaints and their disposition are as follows – notably, although we filed 21 complaints, some of the complaints had multiple counts/violations: 

• 9 complaints yielded a preliminary determination of a campaign finance violation resulting in $3,900 in assessed administrative fines for late/unfiled report violations;
• 3 complaint yielded a preliminary determination of a campaign finance violation resulting in $300 in assessed administrative fines for insufficient advertisement disclaimers;
• 1 complaint yielded a preliminary determination of a campaign finance violation resulting in $1,250 in assessed administrative fines for failure to report contributions and expenditures;
• 1 complaint yielded a preliminary determination of a campaign finance violation resulting in $1,600 in assessed administrative fines for unauthorized handling of campaign funds, failing to report expenditures, and filing false reports;
• 2 complaints yielded a preliminary determination of a campaign finance violation resulting in $300 in assessed administrative fines for late filed electronic filing forms and organizational reports;
• 1 complaint was referred for consideration of criminal prosecution; and
• 6 complaints were withdrawn due to compliance for late/unfiled report violations. 

In addition to the aforementioned complaints, 5 third-party complaints were filed this fiscal year alleging improper expenditure of committee funds, failure to pay for campaign expenditures, and missing advertisement disclaimers.  The complaints were heard at Commission meetings and except for the missing advertisement disclaimers which resulted in a preliminary determination of a campaign finance violation and assessment of a $300 fine, the other complaints were dismissed due to insufficient evidence and/or lack of jurisdiction. 

Pursuant to HAR §3-160-73(d), this annual report is the means in which the Commission reports the amount of fines paid by persons thereby furthering the dissemination of information concerning the penalties.  This rule also requires that the Commission adopt a Schedule of Fines for violations which is posted on the Commission’s website and is referred to in all fine letters to the committees. 

Seek enforcement of the campaign finance laws and rules against violators.  During this fiscal year, a total of $66,783.60 was assessed in administrative fines via fine letters and $33,841.65 was escheated to the HECF due to campaign finance violations (i.e., $8,029.65 was surplus funds from committees to terminate their registration with the Commission, $4,407 was return/unused public funds; and $21,405 was due to various campaign finance violations).  There were 40 conciliation agreements resulting in reduced fines totaling $5,959.19.  Except for 1 conciliation agreement which concerned the failure to file the statement for electioneering communications form and 2 failure to file reports, the remaining 28 concerned the late filing of reports and 9 concerned the failure to file the late contribution report.  None of the agreements resulted in a complaint due to respondents failing to comply with the terms of the conciliation agreement.

There were a total of 140 campaign finance violations that did not involve a conciliation agreement or complaint resulting in a total of $39,256.25 in assessed fines.  Most of the campaign finance violations were a result of 112 late or unfiled reports totalling $31,456.25 in assessed fines.  Specifically, there were a total of 71 candidate committees who failed to timely file 88 reports and 18 noncandidate committees who failed to timely file 19 reports. 

Other campaign finance violations that occurred during this period include:

• 3 insufficient advertisement disclaimers resulting in $75 in fines;
• 3 charitable donations made in a prohibited period resulting in $300 in fines;
• 3 failure to report a contribution resulting in $750 in fines;
• 2 failure to report an expenditure resulting in $500 in fines;
• 7 late filed fundraiser notices resulting in $600 in fines;
• 1 failure to timely deposit contributions resulting in a $25 fine;
• 2 excess contribution resulting in $1,100 in fines;
• 6 failure to timely file a statement of electioneering communication form resulting in $1,500 in fines; and
• 7 prohibited lobbyist contributions resulting in $900 in fines. 

With respect to campaign finance violations involving escheats during this period, they include:

• 1 excess contribution to a noncandidate committee resulting in a $500 escheat;
• 8 excess contributions to candidate committees resulting in $14,000 in escheats;
• 2 anonymous contributions to candidate committees resulting in $105 in escheats;
• 5 surplus contributions from candidate committees resulting in $8,029.65 in escheats;
• 14 prohibited lobbyist contributions to candidate committees resulting in $6,800 in escheats; and
• 1 return of unused public funding from a candidate committee resulting in a $4,407 escheat.

GOAL – TO ENSURE ORGANIZATIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY.

Monitor funding and develop proposals to stabilize funding as needed.  The Commission’s beginning balance at the close of fiscal year 2024 was $2,277,883.99.  In fiscal year 2025, a total of $185,580.40 in revenue was realized (i.e., $82,512.00 in tax check-offs; $33,841.65 in escheats of excess, false name, surplus, and anonymous contributions; $62,741.74 in interest as well as an additional $6,485.01 from the prior fiscal year; $0 in copies; and, $0 in refunds and reimbursements from prior fiscal year expenditures) and a total of $51,181.45 in expenditures was incurred (i.e., $50,883.09 in public funds and $298.36 in payment platform service fees), thereby closing fiscal year 2025 with a balance of $2,412,282.94 which is a $134,398.95 increase from the last fiscal year.

Notably, this was the 8^th fiscal year that the Commission’s operating expenses including salaries and administrative expenses were general funded.  It is expected that this will permit HECF trust funds to replenish and provide a healthier base to pay for public funding for qualified candidates in the upcoming elections.  That said, it was a challenging year for the Commission when the Governor restricted spending for all departments and agencies.  However, the Commission was able to successfully seek an exemption from the budgetary restrictions thereby permitting it to use most of the funds allocated for this fiscal year.  Moving forward, the Commission’s budget is likely to continue to be restricted as a result of the 2023 Maui wildfire.

• Provide Commissioner and staff development. Commissioners are regularly updated on any new or developing issues and provided information from annual COGEL conferences.  This year’s COGEL conference in December 2024 was held in Los Angeles, California, and was attended by Chair David Chee, Commissioner Jon Itomura, Commissioner Danton Wong, and Executive Director Kristin Izumi-Nitao.

Executive Director Izumi-Nitao co-chaired the 2024 conference in Los Angeles and was awarded the 2024 COGEL Outstanding Service Award at the December conference.  She also participated as a panelist for the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Continuing Legal Education session on good government and legislation in July 2024.  Lastly, she served on the 2025 COGEL Program Committee which met in March 2025 to plan the December 2025 conference in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Associate Director Baldomero continues to participate in the annual Digital Summit which is sponsored by ETS and brings together state and county agencies to address technological advances and considerations.

 Two (2) new Commissioners were appointed this year.  Danton Wong and Barbara Polk were appointed by Governor Green and were given an orientation by Commission staff on July 3, 2024 which was also when they were sworn into office. 

• Develop and implement plans for continuity of operations. The Commission is composed of five volunteers representing the general public who are appointed by the governor from a list of at least ten nominees submitted by the judicial council as well as five staff members.  The transition from trust fund to general funds operations continue to go smoothly.

During this period, our General Counsel who served the Commission for fourteen (14) years left in February 2025 to work for the Department of the Attorney General.  The Commission hired its new General Counsel Kristie Chang who started with the Commission on 6/17/25.  She is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools. In 1994, she earned a B.S. in Psychology and minor in Biology from Lewis & Clark College, and in 1997, a J.D. from Loyola Law School.  She was in private practice for six years specializing in estate planning, tax planning, and business planning and has spent the last 21 years as a Deputy Attorney General in the Tax & Charities Division representing the Department of Taxation and the Attorney General in the capacity as paren patriae.

To address the number of candidate committees and noncandidate committees which has significantly grown over the years to over 700 committees who file 2-8 mandatory reports every year, the Commission sought two (2) additional full-time permanent positions which was approved in the FY 2026-2029 biennium budget.  One of these positions includes an investigator to address one of the Commission’s statutory duties which is to investigate campaign finance violations.

Further, in consideration of updated and newer technological advances including applications of artificial intelligence, the Commission sought an increase in its budget for the purchase of new electronic filing systems that will help improve compliance, enforcement, user functionality and access, as well as increase transparency, accountability, and clean elections.  This request for $2.2 million to build a more enhanced system for the committees was also approved in the FY 2026-2029 biennium budget. 

• Monitor compliance with the strategic plan and annually report to the Commission, committees, and the public. Records are organized and kept to satisfy this requirement internally.  The annual report is typically prepared and presented in a public Sunshine meeting in the fall to the Commissioners for their consideration and approval.  Once approved, the annual report is posted on the Commission’s website.

OTHER SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

FY 2026-2029 Biennium Budget.  The Commission is grateful for the support of the Executive and Legislative branches in approving our request in the 2025 legislative session to add two (2) full-time permanent positions (specifically, an investigator and an elections assistant) and appropriate $2.2 million in general funds to permit us to replace the Commission’s electronic filing systems for the committees and the public to be ready by the 2028 elections.  Commission staff will be actively procuring and securing a contract with a vendor for the electronic filing systems and hiring two (2) new staff members in 2026.

FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026

2026 ELECTION.  A new law that was passed in the 2023 legislative session provides for different reporting schedules for the Preliminary Primary Reports depending on when a candidate files nomination papers.  The Commission has commenced informing committees of this change which depends on when the candidate files nomination papers (i.e., on the first day they can file nomination papers through February 23, 2026; on February 24, 2026 through April 25, 2026; or, on April 26, 2026 through the nomination paper filing deadline).

HRS CHAPTER 92H – RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN PUBLIC SERVANTS’ PERSONAL INFORMATION.  In the 2024 legislative session, effective 10/1/24, Act 187 (now, codified under HRS Chapter 92H) provides that upon receiving written notification from the Hawaii State Judiciary, the Commission is mandated to remove protected personal information such as the home address of Hawaii Judiciary personnel who have been included in reports filed by candidate and noncandidate committees.  This law serves to protect personal information from being publicly accessed for the protection of judicial employees.  As such, the Commission has commenced informing committees of this action in writing.  Notably, this law extends to the other branches of government, and thus, the Commission will be working with them in how to execute this mandate in the context of campaign finance law in 2026.