Hawaii to Seek More Financial Disclosure From Super PACs
Political committees in Hawaii that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of campaign money could be required to name the candidates their expenditures are targeting or supporting in the upcoming elections.
That’s one of the changes the plans to push for at the Legislature in January.
“Independent-expenditure-only” noncandidate committees formed in Hawaii can support or attack candidates through advertising, mailings and other means so long as they operate independently of those campaigns. If the committee — sometimes called a Super PAC — only makes so-called independent expenditures, it can accept unlimited contributions and spend unlimited amounts under campaign finance law.
The 2010 Supreme Court now allows corporations and unions to mount independent expenditure campaigns, too.
Currently, the committees only have to disclose basic information on expenditures such as the name and address of the vendor.
Hawaii’s four commissioners at a monthly meeting Wednesday approved a proposed bill that would increase reporting requirements for such committees. The draft bill states:
“The purpose of an independent expenditure shall include the name of the candidate who is supported or opposed by the expenditure, and whether the expenditure supports or opposes the candidate.”
The requirement would apply to political parties and noncandidate committees.
“It’s an area that should be disclosed so that we have an informed public,” Executive Director Kristin Izumi-Nitao told the commission. “We believe that more reporting on independent expenditures is required in light of Citizens United.”
The disclosure requirement was included in that ultimately stalled during the 2011 legislative session.
Commission staff said the bill has been “scaled down” to improve its chances of advancing this time around. For example, a proposed cap on the price of fundraiser tickets that may be purchased with campaign funds has been removed from the new draft, as well as proposed fines for failure to file post-election reports.
So far, three “independent-expenditure-only” noncandidate committees have been registered with the commission — two are Honolulu-based, the other lists a Miramar, Florida address.
They include Hawaii Solutions, formed by two former leaders of the Hawaii Republican Party; Hawaii State Democratic Women’s Caucus, headed by a registered lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of Hawaii; and Automated HealthCare Solutions, formed by a Florida-based health-care IT company of the same name.
