Hawaii Legislature passes first-in-nation bill targeting Citizens United ruling

[mymanmert]

Hawaii Legislature passes first-in-nation bill targeting Citizens United ruling

HONOLULU (CN) — Invoking America’s Founding Fathers, the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom 

and the outsized influence of the sugar industry over island politics, 

Hawaii lawmakers on Friday passed a first-in-the-nation bill 

to strip corporations of the power to spend money in state elections.

The bill takes aim at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, 

which allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money in elections. 

Lawmakers, drawing from a legal theory developed by the Center for American Progress, 

argued that because states create corporations and grant them their powers, 

Hawaii could simply decline to grant corporations the power to spend in elections.

The Democrat-dominated Hawaii Legislature voted 24-0 in the Senate and 50-1 in the House 

to send Senate Bill 2471 to Governor Josh Green’s desk. 

If signed into law, it would take effect July 1, 2027.

--