HONOLULU  – On the final day of Hawaii’s 2025 legislative session, Common Cause Hawaii issued the following statement:

“At a time when Hawaiians are demanding their lawmakers fight back against attacks on our democracy, our legislature failed to act,” said Common Cause Hawaii State Director Camron Hurt. “It’s embarrassing that the legislature didn’t pass anything to improve access to voting or keep foreign corporations out of our home politics. While some legislators voiced support for these bills, words of support aren’t enough – we the people demand real, meaningful action. Common Cause Hawaii will continue our efforts to hold our elected officials accountable and return power back to the people.”

Throughout this session, Common Cause Hawaii advocated for good government bills that would strengthen our democracy, including:

• HB 322, to implement automatic voter registration; and
• SB 1032, to ban companies with a certain percentage of foreign ownership from directly contributing to candidates.

Despite these setbacks, Common Cause Hawaii is proud to report that the FY26 budget includes funding for the Campaign Spending Commission (CSC) to monitor 200,000 additional positions. This is a win for the state’s democratic infrastructure as this is the first chance for the CSC to expand since statehood. This funding will ensure the Commission can maintain the integrity and transparency of the campaign finance process.

Common Cause Hawaii voiced frustration with the state legislature in a Civil Beat Op Ed, which can be read here.

For more information, visit commoncause.org/hawaii.

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