UPDATED: Republican Legislators in Hawaii Aim to Create State-Sponsored Crowdfunding Platform

UPDATE: The bill has been deferred

A bill has been introduced by a group of Republican legislators in Hawaii aims to create a state-sponsored platform for crowdfunding projects. From billtrack50.com…

• Introduced Chamber: Lower
• Introduced Session: 2013 Regular Session
• Bill Summary:Creates a state crowdfunding website, which allows members of the public to donate their own money toward the funding of specific public capital improvement projects and monitor the progress of those projects as they near completion.
• Bill Subjects:Subjects were not specified
• Sponsors:
  Lauren N.Kealohilani Cheape (R), Richard L. Fale (R), Beth Fukumoto (R), Aaron Ling Johanson (R), Bob McDermott (R),Cynthia Thielen (R), Gene R. Ward (R)
• Passed: No

Section 1 of the bill reads as follows…

The legislature finds that despite the best intentions of legislators and other public servants, capital improvement projects in need of completion sometimes take years to be funded through the standard lawmaking process. Elected officials are limited by time, resources, disagreements over policy, and other numerous factors that may prevent the timely financing of worthy projects.

In recent years, ordinary Americans have utilized crowdfunding websites to fund public projects and improve their communities. Individual citizens willingly and directly donate their own funds for these purposes, instilling a sense of hometown pride.

The purpose of this Act is to create a state crowdfunding website, which shall allow members of the public to:

(1) Donate their own money toward the funding of specific public capital improvement projects; and

(2) Monitor the progress of those projects as they near completion.

The bill is scheduled for decision making on Monday, February 11th. More to come…

Featured image courtesy flying_cloud on Flickr