republic-os/legislation/us/states/hi/2023-regular-session/sb-203.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "RELATING TO COMPLAINTS ALLEGING VIOLATIONS OF CAMPAIGN SPENDING LAWS."
description: "Allows the Campaign Spending Commission to treat a respondent's failure to explain or otherwise respond to a complaint alleging a violation of campaign spending laws as a rebuttable presumption that a violation has occurred. Provides the respondent with thirty days from the mailing of the complaint to explain or otherwise respond before the rebuttable presumption takes effect. (CD1)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/hi"
legislature: "Hawaii Legislature"
session: "2023 Regular Session"
identifier: "SB 203"
citation: "Hawaii SB 203 (2023 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Complaints", "Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission Package", "Rebuttable Presumption", "Violations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["KOUCHI"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 39
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-01-19"
last_action: "2023-06-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f06dbc79-e04c-4dc2-8886-706a35f67862"
source_url: "https://capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=203&year=2023"
source_hash: "f6fb7ed017b9b5a3695c8847ba2baee013bd3b5bc3f9b4cbdb93cc4fa142c2e5"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-hi"]
---

# Hawaii SB 203 (2023 Regular Session) — RELATING TO COMPLAINTS ALLEGING VIOLATIONS OF CAMPAIGN SPENDING LAWS.

Allows the Campaign Spending Commission to treat a respondent's failure to explain or otherwise respond to a complaint alleging a violation of campaign spending laws as a rebuttable presumption that a violation has occurred. Provides the respondent with thirty days from the mailing of the complaint to explain or otherwise respond before the rebuttable presumption takes effect. (CD1)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **SB203** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2023/bills/SB203_.HTM)
2. **SB203_CD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2023/bills/SB203_CD1_.HTM)
3. **SB203_HD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2023/bills/SB203_HD1_.HTM)
4. **SB203_SD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2023/bills/SB203_SD1_.HTM)

## Votes

- The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **3–0** (pass) · upper
- The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. — **3–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- KOUCHI — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-06-23** Act 118, 06/23/2023 (Gov. Msg. No. 1219). `became-law`
- **2023-06-23** Act 118, on 06/23/2023 (Gov. Msg. No. 1219). `became-law`
- **2023-05-03** Enrolled to Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-04** Received notice of passage on Final Reading in House (Hse. Com. No. 900). `receipt`
- **2023-05-02** Received notice of Final Reading (Sen. Com. No. 993). `receipt`
- **2023-05-02** Passed Final Reading as amended in CD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0). `passage`
- **2023-05-02** Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). Ayes, 24; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 1 (Senator(s) Awa). Excused, 0 (none). `passage`
- **2023-04-27** Forty-eight (48) hours notice Tuesday, 05-02-23.
- **2023-04-27** Reported from Conference Committee (Conf Com. Rep. No. 5) as amended in (CD 1).
- **2023-04-27** 48 Hrs. Notice (as amended CD 1) 05-02-23.
- **2023-04-27** Reported from Conference Committee as amended CD 1 (Conf. Com. Rep. No. 5).
- **2023-04-21** The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. The votes were as follows: 3 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Takayama, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.
- **2023-04-21** The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes of the Senate Conference Managers were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Elefante, Gabbard; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-21** Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 829). `receipt`
- **2023-04-20** Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-21-23 2:35PM; Conference Room 325.
- **2023-04-20** House Conferees Appointed: Tarnas Chair; Takayama, Souza.
- **2023-04-17** Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 893). `receipt`
- **2023-04-17** Senate Conferees Appointed: Rhoads Chair; Elefante, Gabbard.
- **2023-04-04** Received notice of disagreement (Sen. Com. No. 557). `receipt`
- **2023-04-04** Senate disagrees with House amendments. `amendment-failure`
- **2023-04-04** Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 535). `introduction, receipt`
- **2023-04-03** Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Nishimoto excused (1). Transmitted to Senate. `passage`
- **2023-03-31** Deferred one day 04-03-23. `deferral`
- **2023-03-29** Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1; placed on the calendar for Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0).
- **2023-03-29** Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1627) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
- **2023-03-22** The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Takayama, Ganaden, Hashimoto, Ichiyama, Ilagan, Kong, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Holt, Mizuno. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-20** Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Wednesday, 03-22-23 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
- **2023-03-09** Referred to JHA, referral sheet 17 `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-16** Pass First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-02-15** Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 9) in amended form (SD 1). `introduction, receipt`
- **2023-02-15** Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 23; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 1 (Senator(s) Awa). Excused, 1 (Senator(s) Lee). Transmitted to House. `passage`
- **2023-02-13** 48 Hrs. Notice 02-15-23.
- **2023-02-13** Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1). `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-13** Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 207) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
- **2023-02-07** 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, Elefante, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) San Buenaventura ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-02-03** The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 02-07-23 9:30AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.
- **2023-01-23** Referred to JDC. `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-19** Passed First Reading. `reading-1`
- **2023-01-19** Introduced. `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f06dbc79-e04c-4dc2-8886-706a35f67862`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).