America’s last state to be ratified is leading the fight to restore democracy on the verge of our 250th Independence Day.
Hawaii, which became America’s 50th state in 1959, has declared independence from the influence of Big Money, stating that corporations are not people, and money is not a form of free speech.
Seventy-two percent of Americans say there is too much money in politics. Across political parties, majorities say billionaires wield outsized influence over politics and special interest spending is corruption that should be restricted — rather than protected as free speech. Nearly half of respondents say voters have too little power. A poll released by Politico in April found that 80% of respondents who said they were Kamala Harris supporters, and 77% of Donald Trump supporters, agreed: “there is too much money in politics.”
On May 14, 2026, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed legislation designed to circumvent the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 5-4 “corporate free speech” decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which granted corporations and other “artificial persons” the power to spend money on political campaigns and ballot measures. The 2010 Citizens United decision ruled that corporations are people. That ruling gave corporations the same rights as voters have, including the right to spend unlimited funds on elections. Elon Musk spent more than $291.4 million for Republican candidates in the 2024 election — 99% of that funding was funneled through a SuperPac Musk created called America PAC. According to the Federal Elections Committee, SuperPACs are “independent nonconnected committees” and can solicit contributions from anyone” and make expenditures to influence federal elections.
Hawaii has stripped corporations of their right to spend money on Hawaii elections and ballot initiatives. Supporters hope this new law, will undo the Citizens United decision. It allows the Hawaiian attorney general to impose penalties including revoking a corporation’s charter, certificate, or other instrument authorizing the entity to operate in the state, transact business in the state, or otherwise exercise its lawful purposes in the State, including involuntary dissolution of the entity by the state. The law does not go into effect until July 1, 2027. It will definitely face what some corporate law firms have promised will be “inevitable legal challenges.” But supporters hope Hawaii will inspire other states to test Citizens United through comparable speech restrictions.
Hawaii’s law asserts that corporations lack rights and can exercise only those privileges granted by the state. It declares that “artificial persons,” including corporations (for-profit and nonprofit, limited liability companies, partnerships, and associations, credit unions, professional corporations, cooperative associations, limited-equity housing cooperatives, limited liability partnerships, and unincorporated nonprofit associations) have only those powers which are conferred upon them by state law. Corporations will no longer have the same powers afforded to individuals. The new law says that “artificial persons” created under Hawaiian law “possess only those powers that are necessary or convenient to carry out lawful business and charitable or organizational purposes, and that those powers do not include the power to spend money or contribute anything of value to influence elections or ballot measures.
The new law asserts that “the creation and continued existence of a corporation is not a right but a conditional grant of legal status by the state and remains subject to complete withdrawal at any time. All powers previously granted to corporations under the laws of this state are revoked in their entirety.” Hawaii-based candidate and non-candidate political committees, and similar committees organized under federal law, are exempted from the new law and retain the ability to engage in political activity, but politically active Section 501(c) organizations are not. Any corporation or other organization based in another state that does business or owns property in Hawaii is subject to the same political speech restrictions placed on domestic corporations.
“Election activity” is defined as “paying, contributing, or expending money or anything of value to support or oppose a candidate, political party, or political committee.” “Ballot-issue activity” means “paying, contributing, or expending money or anything of value to support or oppose a constitutional amendment, or other ballot question.” Both terms provide exceptions for media companies.
One national political law firm, Holtzman Vogel, asserts that the Hawaiian law has “multiple constitutional defects that make its survival unlikely.” “The First Amendment rights at issue in Citizens United belong not to corporations but to the citizens who choose to associate using the corporate form.”
Hawaii is a warning that as we convene our 250th Independence Day party this July 4, “dark money” billionaires are gobbling up all the birthday cake.
Al Norman’s Pushback column is published in the Recorder the first and third Wednesday of every month.