House Committee on Judiciary (JUD) - chair: Karl Rhoads, vice chair: Joy A. San Buenaventura

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 2:00 P.M. Conference Room 325

Testifier: Beppie J. Shapiro, LWV of Hawaii Legislative Committee Member

Click here to view SB654 SD1

Chair Rhoads, Vice-Chair Buenaventura, and Committee Members: The League of Women Voters of Hawaii supports SB654 SD1 which would lower the amount of anonymous contributions collected from ten or more persons at a political function. In the current climate of very large anonymous contributions from unidentified donors in SuperPACS, this may seem unimportant; but on the contrary, SB654 SD1 makes an important statement about the principle of money as speech espoused by the Supreme Court: that such “speech” must be identified with the individuals contributing it in order to be fully understood by voters. We are happy to see the Hawai`i Legislature making this commitment to the principle of identifying political contributors. We urge you to pass this bill. Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony.