Bill Text: HI HB1118 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Campaign Spending.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-03-11 - Referred to JDC. [HB1118 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2021-HB1118-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1118 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to campaign spending.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that dark money is
defined as funds raised for the purpose of influencing elections by nonprofit
organizations that are not required to disclose the identities of their donors.
Dark money sometimes comes from Internal
Revenue Code 501(c)(4) organizations that are not required to disclose the identity
of their donors. By doing so, there is a
lack of transparency that fails to inform the public on who is trying to influence
an election. Although dark money can
come in through different tax-exempt organizations, this Act attempts to
address one area of dark money through the 501(c)(4) organizations.
The legislature further finds that Internal
Revenue Code 501(c)(4) organizations are tax-exempt as a social welfare organization
and must not be organized for profit and must be operated exclusively to
promote social welfare. The Internal Revenue
Service describes "exclusively promoting social welfare" as operating
primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the
community, such as by bringing about civic betterment and social improvements. The promotion of social welfare does not
include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns
on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.
However, the Internal Revenue Code states
that social welfare organizations may engage in some political activities, so
long as that is not their primary activity. Arguably, this means that an organization can use
49.99 per cent of its funds to engage in political activity and still maintain its
tax-exempt status, all while hiding their donor's involvement in political
campaigning. Also, the Internal Revenue Service
is currently not authorized to use any funds to investigate these activities in
order to ensure compliance. This allows
501(c)(4)s to engage in and spend unregulated amounts of money on political
activity without any consequences or oversight, conceivably well above the political
activity percentage threshold allowed.
While the State does not have the authority
to revoke federal tax-exempt status, the State should be given oversight into
501(c)(4) organizations that operate in Hawaii to ensure that the majority of
its operations and spending are focused on social welfare and not political activities.
The State may then submit its findings
to the Internal Revenue Service and to the public.
The purpose of this Act is to ultimately
provide more transparency in elections and build trust between the public and
elected officials through transparent information by requiring any organization,
association, party, or individual that is financially involved in the political
process to file a financial disclosure with the campaign spending commission and
removing an exemption to do so.
SECTION 2. Section 11-302, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "noncandidate committee" to read as follows:
"Noncandidate committee"
means an organization, association, party, or individual that [has the
purpose of making or receiving] makes or receives contributions, [making]
makes expenditures, or [incurring] incurs financial
obligations to influence the nomination for election, or the election, of any
candidate to office, or for or against any question or issue on the ballot;
provided that a noncandidate committee does not include:
(1) A candidate committee;
(2) Any individual making a contribution or making an expenditure of the individual's own funds or anything of value that the individual originally acquired for the individual's own use and not for the purpose of evading any provision of this part; or
(3) Any organization that raises or expends funds for the sole purpose of producing and disseminating informational or educational communications that are not made to influence the outcome of an election, question, or issue on a ballot."
SECTION 3. Section 11-335, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) Schedules filed with the reports shall include the following additional information:
(1) The amount and
date of deposit of each contribution received and the name, address,
occupation, and employer of each contributor making a contribution aggregating
more than $100 during an election period, which was not previously reported;
provided that if:
(A) All the information is not on file, the contribution shall be returned to the contributor within thirty days of deposit; and
(B) A noncandidate committee making only independent expenditures receives a contribution of more than $10,000 in the aggregate in an election period from an entity other than an individual, for-profit business entity, or labor union, then the schedule shall include:
(i) The internet
address where the contributing entity's disclosure report can be publicly
accessed, if the contributing entity is subject to state or federal disclosure
reporting requirements regarding the source of the contributing entity's funds;
and
(ii) The name, address,
occupation, and employer of each funding source that contributed $100 or more
in the aggregate in an election period to that contributing entity[; or
(iii) An
acknowledgment that the contributing entity is not subject to any state or
federal disclosure reporting requirements regarding the source of the
contributing entity's funds];
(2) The amount and date
of each contribution made and the name and address of the candidate, candidate
committee, or noncandidate committee to which the contribution was made;
(3) All expenditures, including the name and address of each payee and the amount, date, and purpose of each expenditure; provided that:
(A) Expenditures for advertisements or electioneering communications shall include the names of the candidates supported, opposed, or clearly identified;
(B) Expenditures for consultants, advertising agencies and similar firms, credit card payments, salaries, and candidate reimbursements shall be itemized to permit a reasonable person to determine the ultimate intended recipient of the expenditure and its purpose;
(C) Independent expenditures shall include the name of any candidate supported, opposed, or clearly identified; and
(D) 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;
(4) For noncandidate committees making only independent expenditures, certification that no expenditures have been coordinated with a candidate, candidate committee, or any agent of a candidate or candidate committee;
(5) The amount, date of deposit, and description of other receipts and the name and address of the source of each of the other receipts;
(6) A description of each durable asset, the date of acquisition, value at the time of acquisition, and the name and address of the vendor or contributor of the asset; and
(7) The date of disposition of a durable asset, value at the time of disposition, method of disposition, and name and address of the person receiving the asset."
SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Campaign Spending Commission; Noncandidate Committees
Description:
Amends the definition of noncandidate committee and the contents required in noncandidate committee reports filed with the campaign spending commission.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
