STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1138-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: S.B. No. 312

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Government Reform, to which was referred S.B. No. 312, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE HAWAII CONSTITUTION REGARDING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to propose a symbolic amendment to the Hawaii State Constitution to provide that the expenditure of money to influence elections is not a form of free speech protected under the Hawaii State Constitution.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Common Cause Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that this measure makes clear in the Hawaii State Constitution that freedom of speech does not include the expenditure of money to influence elections.

Your Committee finds that to simply submit a purely symbolic constitutional amendment question to voters will create massive voter disenfranchisement upon learning that this constitutional amendment will have no effect upon the ramifications of Citizens United. Your Committee feels that by submitting a straightforward constitutional amendment on the freedom of speech, as applied to entities other than individuals, will trigger another review by the United States Supreme Court on this very issue because of the conflict that now exists between the Hawaii State Constitution and the United States Constitution.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing language that provides that the amendment to the Hawaii State Constitution proposed by this measure is symbolic; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Government Reform that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 312, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 312, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Government Reform,

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair