Hawaii’s Governor recently signed Senate Bill 2471 (Act 11) into law with massive, historic bipartisan support. Hawaii has officially become the first state to strip corporations, LLCs, and even politically active nonprofits of their power to spend money influencing elections.
Montana originated the strategy and will soon enact it as law.
How did they bypass Citizens United without getting immediately struck down by courts? Simple. They clarified that the legal privileges granted to businesses under Hawaii’s corporate charters do not include the power to engage in or spend money on political campaigns.
If a corporation violates this? They face severe penalties from the Attorney General—including losing their absolute right to do business in the state.
Because this law applies to any entity registered or authorized to do business in Hawaii, it forces out-of-state mega-corporations to comply if they want access to Hawaii’s economy. This may be a complete game-changer. It paves the way to shut out dark money.
This is a direct challenge to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling.The strategy attempts to sidestep Citizens United by saying: corporations only have the powers the state grants them, and political spending is not one of those powers.
Proposed: It’s not a matter of giving control back to the States. We know that doesn’t work, but we should follow Hawaii’s lead and take control out of the hands of Lobbyists and Power Brokers who only want to manipulate the agenda in favor of their bank accounts.
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