Strong opposition to HB 539

9 people have submitted testimony for this bill so far.

Your Information and Testimony

First Name

Last Name

Address

City

State

Postal Code

Phone

Testimony

I'm writing in strong opposition of HB 539

This bill would raise the current cap of $1,000 on the amount of money corporations can give directly out of their treasuries to PACs by 250%!

Corporations already have too much influence on the lawmaking process and have an unfair advantage over the general public.

Twenty one states have already banned these types of corporate contributions.

By raising cap and allowing a tsunami of corporate money to flood legislators' campaigns, Hawaii would become the first state in U.S. history to move backwards on this issue -- allowing more money -- instead of moving forwards by banning this money.

Moreover, this bill amends current law to make an exception for corporations, allowing them to donate 25 times as much to a PAC as an individual is allowed to donate.  Such an amendment is especially regressive following a national election that emphasized change and the greater inclusion of individual citizen in the political process.

It would be a shame if Hawaii were to become one of the 16 most regressive states in the union by moving against the tide:  21 states have prohibited corporate contributions to PACs, while an additional 13 states have more restrictive limits on corporate contributions to PACs than that proposed in HB 539!

We urge you to defeat this bill, or, better yet, to amend it to prohibit ALL direct corporate contributions to candidates for office, political parties and PACs.

Bill Information

Position Statement

Strong opposition to

Name of Bill

HB 539

Bill Progress

No bill updates yet.