SB 2454 Hawaii Senate · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS.

Summary

Requires a candidate or any individual authorized to receive contributions on behalf of a candidate or noncandidate committee to deposit the monetary contribution or other campaign funds into a depository institution within seven days of its receipt. Requires any elected official, candidate, candidate committee, or other individual required to file an organizational report who receives a contribution from a lobbyist to deposit the contribution within seven days of its receipt. Effective 3/22/2075. (SD2)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 22, 2026 Last action Mar 12, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB2454_SD1_SFA2 → SB2454_SD2 · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends Hawaii's campaign finance laws to tighten rules on when funds must be deposited into bank accounts and to prohibit lobbyists from making contributions during legislative sessions. It clarifies that contributions received from lobbyists before a session must be deposited within seven days, and any prohibited contributions made during the session are forfeited to the state election fund.

Scope change

The bill expands the restrictions on lobbyist contributions to include a specific ban during legislative sessions, recesses, and the five days immediately before and after a session, whereas previous text did not explicitly define these periods as prohibited times.

REQUIREMENT

Amended the requirement for depositing campaign funds to explicitly include 'other campaign funds' and removed the vague term 'promptly' in favor of a strict seven-day deadline.

Added a new prohibition preventing lobbyists from making or promising contributions to elected officials or candidates during legislative sessions, recesses, and the five days surrounding a session.

ENFORCEMENT

Established that any contribution prohibited by the new lobbyist ban must be forfeited (escheat) to the Hawaii election campaign fund.

DEFINITION

Provided specific definitions for 'elected official,' 'lobbyist,' and 'session' to clarify the scope of the new restrictions.

TECHNICAL

Corrected the effective date of the act from 2075 to a plausible future date (likely a typo in the source text, but the text remains 2075 in the amendment).

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 12, 2026

Committee

Recommitted to JDC.

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Upper · Passed

Floor amendment adopted as amended (SD 2).

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Introduced

Floor Amendment No. 2 offered.

upper

Mar 5, 2026

Upper · Passed

Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1).

upper

Feb 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in JDC were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Gabbard, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 2 Excused: Senator(s) Chang, San Buenaventura.

upper

Feb 9, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 02-13-26 9:00AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 30, 2026

Committee

Re-Referred to JDC.

upper

Jan 28, 2026

Committee

Referred to GVO, JDC.

upper

Jan 22, 2026

Introduced

Introduced.

upper

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors