Spy v Spy: Gabbard Bumbling Led to Ouster, or …

Half-Baked ‘Stop Corporate Personhood’ Bill will have to be Amended Next Year

SA: … Some lawmakers credited Indivisible Hawaii’s advocacy for helping get the bill passed and signed into law. The group has grown to nine chapters statewide and has organized several large rallies in the islands since President Donald Trump returned to power in 2025.

(TRANSLATION: We had to pander to these fools.)

Indivisible members “were pushing this bill pretty heavily,” said state Rep. Scot Matayoshi (D, Kaneohe- Maunawili), who served on the joint Senate-House conference committee that kept the measure alive at the last minute despite concerns from nonprofits, unions and others.

(TRANSLATION: We had to pander to these fools.)

“Indivisible is very good at mobilizing people to make calls and send emails to legislators to bring an issue to the forefront,” Matayoshi said. “So, I think that’s their big strength.”

(TRANSLATION: We had to pander to these fools.)

Indivisible’s outreach to legislators in support of SB 2471, Matayoshi said, “made it easier because everyone was aware of it and knew that there was public pressure to have this bill heard and pass. But it made it harder because when this bill was first introduced it had a lot of pretty major problems that could have hurt local unions and nonprofits.”

(April 17, 2026: “Several unions have opposed the ‘Stop Corporate Personhood’ measure out of concern that the bill still limits their ability to engage in elections.”)

The bill had been stuck in conference committee over concerns that limiting campaign activities for “non humans” will hamper Hawaii’s unions, nonprofits and other entities.

Matayoshi recommended a compromise to pass the bill but delay it from going into effect until July 2027, leaving it up to next year’s Legislature to fine tune it.

(TRANSLATION: The bill’s author admits they passed a half-baked mess just to pander to ‘Indivisible’.)

“Everyone’s going to be taking a good hard look at this bill and we’ll be talking to make sure that we can tweak it to not harm Hawaii organizations, or as little as possible,” Matayoshi said….

(BETTER MATAYOSHI QUOTE: “We are taking the lead. So it’ll be tested in court. … But if this gets up to the Supreme Court, with this particular U.S. Supreme Court, they could make a ruling that further cements Citizens United. So, we are playing with a bit of fire here.”)

Opponents of the legislation included Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez, who wrote that SB 2417 “purports to revoke all corporate powers granted by Hawaii law in their entirety and then re-grant powers pursuant to the new law. This type of drastic legal maneuver alone may create significant unforeseeable impacts from actions regarding all Hawaii corporations at such scale.”

Lopez added, “Hawaii has no ability to define the corporate powers of foreign corporations, which are governed by the state laws where they are incorporated. The theory simply does not account for how Hawaii can regulate the speech of foreign corporations when it does not grant the powers of those corporations, and this is logically and legally fatal.”

While it was meant to counter Citizens United’s impact, the Hawaii law restricts enforcement to state-regulated organizations, so it has also raised concerns that it actually might allow entities incorporated in other states to fill the void in political spending in the islands.

REALITY: Legislators Vote to Abolish ERS, End Free Speech for Star-Advertiser

Read … Hawaii law aims to curb corporate influence in elections but faces hurdles | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Anti-ICE Measure for November Ballot Pointless?

CB: … The proposal doesn’t appear to have garnered any opposition so far. And an advisory committee the commission formed to evaluate it recently recommended approval, moving it one step closer to the November ballot.