Campaign finance has been a topic of interest this legislative session. The heightened focus can be attributed to a federal investigation that unearthed allegations of an unknown lawmaker accepting $35,000 in a paper bag.
However, it’s not yet clear if the controversy will have enough impact on the Legislature to pass laws focused on campaign finance reform.
“It's been really unfortunate; we just haven't really seen the lawmakers kind of embrace the need for change,” said Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action’s Aria Castillo. She explained that public interest and awareness in campaign spending have been boosted because of the allegations.
“A lot of people have said that this is an isolated incident, this is just one lawmaker for the majority of us, this isn't how business is handled,” Castillo said.
“I think the bigger picture is not getting through to them, and I think it's probably because they're comfortable in their seats and they know how to work this system as it is.”
Several clean election measures are still alive this session – like a bill that would ban lawmakers from accepting donations from government contractors and their immediate family members, also known as the contractor loophole.
One would no longer allow campaign funds to be used to buy tickets to other candidates’ fundraisers. Another would extend the statute of limitations on bribery charges from six to nine years.
And other measures would bolster the state’s small publicly funded elections program.
Rep. Della Au Bellati has been one of the most vocal lawmakers in favor of these measures.
“We understand and we've heard them through the numerous bills that community advocates and community groups have come in over the last three years and we need to close some of these loopholes,” she said.
“So is there momentum? I hope so. Will there be accountability at the end? I hope so too.”
Publicly funded elections
Many advocates and the Campaign Spending Commission point to publicly funded elections as a way to decrease corruption and special interest money influence.
Although the program is mandated through the state’s constitution, the maximum dollar amounts given to candidates that meet the publicly funded election standard haven’t changed since 1995. Because of this, it’s not widely used. Rep. Mahina Poepoe is the only sitting state lawmaker elected using the Hawaiʻi Election Campaign Fund.
However, using taxpayer dollars for elections can be a tough sell to constituents.
Rep. Lisa Kitagawa previously voted in favor of increasing publicly funded elections. She changed her vote to ‘no’ this session. In a poll of her district, out of the about 600 responses, about 70% were opposed.
“If I didn't poll them, I probably still would've voted yes,” she said. “But since I polled them, I felt like I needed to recognize and acknowledge the voices of my community. So that's why I voted no.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Karl Rhoads said this is one of the hurdles he’s faced when trying to get his measures for publicly funded elections passed.
“People don't want their tax money going to pay for a campaign for someone they don't agree with,” he said.
However, Rhoads looks at it another way.
“I would argue that that's exactly backwards – that if your politicians are going to be beholden to somebody, they should be beholden to taxpayers, not to their donors,” he said. “I'm not saying everybody's beholden, but there's always that tension.”
Another reason Rhoads advocates for publicly financed elections: You don’t have to worry about what your donors do in the future. He pointed to a $250 campaign contribution he received from lobbyist Tobi Solidum about 10 years ago.
Solidum is a lobbyist who donated funds to Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke in 2022, which was not reported until recently. Recent reports have put both Solidum and Luke at the center of conversations regarding the allegations of the $35,000 exchange.
“At the time, I had no reason whatsoever to believe that there was any problem with taking that money … but here it is 10 years later and my name is now associated with somebody who apparently is in trouble and I didn't do anything wrong,” Rhoads said.
“You can set up a parallel system where you wouldn't have to worry about what trouble your donors got in 10 years after you took the money when you had no reason to believe that there was a problem.”
The current state of campaign finance
Some lawmakers have voluntarily chosen to reject large donations from corporate donors, but it comes at a cost.
“Every election cycle I've had a serious opponent because I don't have a war chest,” said Rep. Amy Perruso. “But I don't mind actually. I think that's kind of good for democracy.”
Candidates can amass large sums of money for their campaigns to dissuade people from challenging them. For example, Gov. Josh Green has over $2 million in his campaign spending account without a major challenger.
However, Perruso doesn’t blame her colleagues for operating their campaigns within the law, even if it means accepting larger donations from corporate donors and lobbyists.
“We are asking the people who benefit from the status quo to change the status quo,” she said.
“I honestly think that most of my colleagues are serving their communities, doing the best they can, and are operating within a system that they just inherited, they didn't create.”
Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, who supports publicly funded elections, echoed Perruso’s encouragement of competition in political races.
“Not everybody agrees with me on this – but I think we have too many races where candidates are not opposed or they're not meaningfully opposed,” he said.
“We should have choice. We should have these public square debates about the direction we're going and the leadership that we have running the state of Hawaiʻi. And so this is one of the ways that I think we can get there.”
Keohokalole pointed to former Rep. Ty Cullen’s and Sen. Kalani English’s guilty pleas to bribery as an example of the system working — they broke the law and are now felons. However, Keohokalole explained that it’s going to take time for the Legislature to regain the public’s trust and that laws need to be carefully considered.
“Just passing laws that we're going to struggle to implement or that aren't going to result in the change that people expect — that could have lingering effects,” Keohokalole said. “The thing that's going to make the most difference in regaining public trust is having a system that works well over time without any more of these really wretched incidents taking place.”
Minority Leader Rep. Lauren Matsumoto added that she doesn’t see the state’s campaign spending laws as the issue — she believes it’s the culture of the Legislature.
“I actually believe we have some pretty strong laws on the books. They can be strengthened always, but we have to make sure that anytime there's wrongdoing, there is swift and immediate action taken so we don't lose the trust of the public,” she said.
“Something that people don't think about often enough is that balance piece at the Legislature. I do think that plays an important role in preventing some of these things from happening. Power corrupts, and if it goes unchecked for too long, this is what you end up with.
In previous years, bills like closing the contractor loophole and bolstering publicly financed elections have died in conference — one of the last steps of the legislative process.
And in a tight budget year, here’s what Senate President Ron Kouchi had to say about the issue.
“If you want to say it's an excuse to kill it, I would say if I need to choose between serving the most vulnerable in our communities or funding public elections, I'm going to choose the most vulnerable in our communities to be protected.”
How did we get here? Read past HPR coverage:
- Lt. Gov. Luke’s voluntary audit finds about $7,800 in unreported campaign donations (March 10, 2026)
- Hawaiʻi AG says 'no conflict' in investigation into alleged $35K lawmaker exchange (Feb. 23, 2026)
- Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke says she did not take $35,000 in a paper bag (Feb. 10, 2026)
- $35,000 payment to unknown lawmaker in 2022 looms over state Capitol (Jan. 9, 2026)
- Former Rep. Ty Cullen gets 2 years in a corruption case that highlights Hawaiʻi's cesspool mess (April 2023)
- Former Maui County official sentenced to 10 years for taking $2M in bribes (February 2023)
- Former Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English sentenced to 40 months for taking bribes (July 2022)
- Former lawmakers admit to taking bribes to steer legislation (February 2022)
Hawaiʻi Public Radio exists to serve all of Hawai’i, and it’s the people of Hawai’i who keep us independent and strong. Donate today. Mahalo for your support.
