Urging The Campaign Spending Commission To Take All Actions Necessary And Within Its Power To Ensure Candidate Committees' Full Compliance With State Campaign Finance Laws.
SCR174 is a Senate Concurrent Resolution urging the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission to take additional steps to improve compliance with state campaign finance laws. The resolution states that the Commission was created to enforce campaign finance requirements, educate the public, administer public financing, and train campaign committees, but argues that more proactive enforcement and training are needed. It highlights that the Legislature has amended campaign finance laws many times since 2018, while the Commission has not audited any campaign accounts since then and has offered in-person training only twice per year during election years and only during normal business hours.
The resolution specifically asks the Commission to conduct automatic audits of candidate committees that spend more than $500,000 in an election period, subsidize independent audits for committees that want them, adopt rules defining what counts as a substantially defective or deficient report under section 11-340, HRS, and provide more frequent training sessions outside normal business hours. It also broadly urges the Commission to take any other actions within its authority to ensure full compliance with campaign finance laws. As a concurrent resolution, SCR174 does not itself change statutory law, but it expresses the Legislature’s policy direction and pressure on the Commission to use its existing powers more aggressively.
SCR174 does not amend the Hawaii Revised Statutes directly, but it seeks to influence how the Campaign Spending Commission uses existing authority under campaign finance law, including audit, enforcement, rulemaking, and training functions. If acted on, the resolution could lead to more audits, clearer reporting standards, expanded compliance education, and potentially stronger enforcement of sections such as 11-340 and 11-410, HRS. Its practical effect would be on candidate committees, campaign volunteers, and the Commission’s administrative practices rather than on substantive election law text.
The overall sentiment reflected in the bill text is supportive of stronger campaign finance oversight and more robust compliance assistance. The resolution frames the Commission’s current efforts as helpful but insufficient, and it expresses concern that volunteer-run candidate committees may not be getting enough accessible training or enforcement guidance. No vote history or committee testimony is provided, so there is no recorded opposition or amendment activity in the available materials.
The main points of contention implied by the resolution are the adequacy of the Commission’s current enforcement and education efforts, and whether it should be required or expected to do more. The bill criticizes the lack of audits since 2018, the limited availability of in-person training, and the absence of clear rules defining defective reports, suggesting concern that candidate committees may be unable to comply without more guidance. Potential tension may exist between advocates for stricter oversight and those concerned about the administrative burden, cost, or feasibility of automatic audits, subsidized independent audits, and expanded training obligations.