Hawaii lawmakers are considering making it legal for candidates running for political office to tap their campaign donations to cover child care costs. Senate Bill 597 Opens in a new tab, which has sailed through the Senate and passed the House of Representatives’ Government Reform Committee on Wednesday, is part of a growing national movement to make it easier for parents of young children, and women in particular, to run for office.
“We don’t think that people who have young dependent children or dependent family members should have a harder time campaigning and running for
office and we think this bill will level the playing field,” said Sandy Ma, executive director of Common Cause Hawaii, which advocates for open and transparent government. She told lawmakers that the bill would help create elected bodies that are more representative of their constituents.
The bill would apply to child care costs for children under age 12, and potentially to care for other household members who are mentally or physically incapable of taking care of themselves.
It’s generally illegal for candidates running for political office to use campaign cash to cover personal expenses. But candidates are increasingly challenging whether child care should fall under the definition of personal expenses.
In 2018, New York Democratic House candidate
Liuba Grechen Shirley asked the Federal Elections Commission to rule on whether she could use campaign funds to pay a babysitter to take care of her two young children while she campaigned for office. The FEC, in a 4-0 decision Opens in a new tab ruled in her favor. The commission said the expenses didn’t fall under the category of “personal use,” because the child care costs were “a direct result of campaign activity.”
Prior to running for office, Grechen Shirley worked from home as a consultant while caring for her children, while her husband worked full time.
She lost her race, but the FEC ruling spurred other candidates to seek clarification on whether their local and state election commissions also allowed child care to be covered. Other states have passed laws expressly allowing it.
Since the 2018 ruling, candidates are using campaign funds for child care in 22 states, according to the Vote Mama Foundation Opens in a new tab, which was launched by Grechen Shirley to help mothers overcome the hurdles of running for office. Seven states have passed legislation specifying that campaign funds can be used for child care, while 12 states have ruled that it’s permissible. Other states, such as Iowa and Delaware, have ruled that their codes don’t allow child care to be included as a permissible campaign expense. Legislation is pending in both those states to change that.
So far, Hawaii’s proposed legislation has bipartisan support. The measure isn’t open-ended. Candidates can’t use campaign funds to pay for child care unless those costs are the result of campaigning for office. Under the bill, child care costs could only be covered from Jan.1 of the election year to the day after the primary or general election in which the candidate appears on the ballot.
SB 597 must still pass the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and House Finance committees, as well as gain additional Senate and House approvals, before it could be sent to the governor for consideration.
