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IrelandHawaii's corporate-charter strategy takes aim at Citizens United
More Perfect Union explains a state-level approach to corporate political spending, with Montana organizers pursuing a similar ballot initiative.
More Perfect Union
Story of Why this story? 1,233,123 views so far, and here is what is inside it.
Hawaii Just Made Citizens United Irrelevant. Your State Could Be Next
Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 0:46Citizens United provides the backdrop for a strategy focused on state authority over corporations.
- 1:36Former governors Bullock and Racicot connect Montana's proposal to its history of restricting corporate political influence.
- 4:05Initiative 194 would restrict corporate political activity by changing the powers states grant through business charters.
- 5:25Hawaii's Sunshine Over Dark Money Act applies the corporate-charter approach to political spending.
- 6:21Related efforts in other states face legal opposition, including challenges from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
- 7:49Supporters argue that historical state authority to define corporate powers provides a legal foundation for the measures.
The target is corporate power. In More Perfect Union's report, Liz Scheltens explains a campaign-finance strategy built around a different question from whether corporations have speech rights: what powers do states give corporations in the first place?
The argument is that states, which grant corporate charters, can restrict the political activities those charters authorize. Supporters present that as a way to curb corporate election spending without first overturning Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision protecting independent political spending by corporations and unions.
Montana supplies the report's bipartisan pairing: former Democratic governor Steve Bullock and former Republican governor Marc Racicot. Both back the approach. Organizer Liana Keesing explains how the proposed Initiative 194 would use state authority over corporations to prohibit contributions to campaigns and political parties.
Hawaii's example arrives a little past the halfway point. Scheltens reports on the legislature's passage of the Sunshine Over Dark Money Act, which targets corporate political spending through charter powers. That is the mechanism behind the video's sweeping title, "Hawaii Just Made Citizens United Irrelevant. Your State Could Be Next".
But the report also contains limits to that promise. Hawaii state senator Karl Rhoads acknowledges that wealthy individuals would still be able to spend money. Scheltens describes legal challenges from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while supporters argue that historical state authority over corporations supports their position.
The report has drawn roughly 1.2 million views in six days. Its useful distinction is between reversing a constitutional ruling and changing what states permit corporations to do, with Montana's ballot proposal and Hawaii's legislation illustrating separate stages of that effort.
A Democrat who served as governor of Montana from 2013 to 2021.
More on Wikipedia ›A former Republican politician who served as governor of Montana from 1993 to 2001. He later worked as a lobbyist.
More on Wikipedia ›A Democrat who has represented District 13 in the Hawaii Senate since 2016. He previously served in the state's House of Representatives.
More on Wikipedia ›A business advocacy association and the largest lobbying group in the United States.
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
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- Channel
- More Perfect Union
- Subscribers
- 4,140,000 ▲ 40,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 34,973,135
- Channel views, pace per day
- 5,203,705 (on a normal day: 3,385,534)
- Video published
- October 23, 2026
- Video views so far
- 1,233,123 (6 days online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 192,313 (on a normal day: 225,093)
The numbers
The report's views and engagement are below; its audience size is not an unusual departure for More Perfect Union.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which state is pursuing Initiative 194 in the report?
The Montana Plan is the campaign behind Initiative 194, the ballot proposal explained in the report.