SB 311 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE HAWAII STATE CONSTITUTION REGARDING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

Summary

Proposes an amendment to the Hawaii State Constitution to provide that freedom of speech protected under the Hawaii State Constitution does not include the expenditure of money to influence elections. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 14, 2025 Last action Mar 18, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB311_HD1 → SB311_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill text was reformatted from a House Draft version (HD1) to a Senate Draft version (SD1), with minor text corrections to legal citations and ballot language. The core policy proposal remains unchanged: amending the Hawaii State Constitution to exclude campaign spending from free speech protections. These changes are primarily technical formatting updates rather than substantive policy modifications.

TECHNICAL

Corrected the Buckley v. Valeo Supreme Court citation from '424 U.S. 1' to '424 U.S. 659' in the legislative findings section.

Updated ballot language to clarify that the constitutional amendment would take effect only if federal court rulings or congressional action overturns Citizens United and Buckley decisions.

Replaced House Draft metadata and page headers with Senate Draft metadata and formatting standards.

Removed House Draft page numbering and formatting artifacts that were not part of the actual bill text.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 4, 2025

How they voted

25–0

Passed

Total votes 25

Mar 4, 2025

D Democratic22

22 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican3

3 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 18, 2025

Committee

Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1329) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Mar 12, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Hashem, Kahaloa, Perruso, Takayama, Todd; Ayes with reservations: none; 2 Noes: Representative(s) Garcia, Shimizu; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Cochran.

lower

Mar 10, 2025

Introduced

Notice of bill proposing constitutional amendment transmitted to Governor pursuant to Article XVII, Section 3 (Sen. Com. No. 1).

upper

Mar 6, 2025

Committee

Referred to JHA, FIN, referral sheet 19

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 130) in amended form (SD 1).

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House.

upper

Jan 30, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in JDC were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Gabbard, Chang, San Buenaventura, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Jan 29, 2025

Committee

Re-Referred to JDC.

upper

Jan 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 01-30-25 9:15AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to JDC, WAM.

upper

Jan 15, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and passed First Reading.

upper

Jan 14, 2025

Introduced

Pending Introduction.

upper

8 primary · 2 co-sponsors