There’s more money in politics than ever. Here’s one way Rhode Island can fight back.

This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.

More than 15 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court removed limits on corporate political spending in its notorious Citizens United decision, ushering in an era of unprecedented influence by moneyed interests. As a result, a small group of ultrawealthy donors have skewed the political system to their advantage — and today, social scientists link the growing gap between rich and poor to that seminal 2010 decision. 

Federal attempts to overturn the ruling by amending the U.S. Constitution or legislating against corporate spending have repeatedly failed. But now several states are experimenting with new ways to get this flood of corporate money out of politics.

The state of Hawaii just passed a first-of-its-kind law redefining corporations as entities that aren’t allowed to spend money in elections anywhere within the state. The effort could kick off a powerful state-by-state pushback that succeeds where federal efforts failed.

This simple idea is the brainchild of Tom Moore, senior fellow for democracy policy at the Center for American Progress. “It’s not regulation; it’s redefinition,” Moore told me. “States create corporations, and they give powers to all the corporations that operate within their states.”

So if the federal government and the Supreme Court enable corporations to influence elections, states can counter that merely by changing the definition of a corporation. And that’s precisely what Hawaii did. Effective starting July 2027, corporations doing business in the state are redefined to “not include the power to spend money or contribute anything of value to influence elections or ballot measures.”

The novel approach is well-protected against legal challenges. Moore explained that, “the Supreme Court has said consistently for 200 years that (the power to define corporations) is a matter of state law, that the federal courts don’t have anything to do with that.”

The impact of this on Hawaii’s politics is likely to be monumental. “Basically, in Hawaii politics, local, state, and federal, every dollar that’s spent will be from an individual human being,” Moore said. “It’ll be disclosed, it’ll be voluntary. And that is a gigantic difference from what we have right now.”

Hawaii’s law doesn’t overturn Citizens United — it makes the 2010 ruling meaningless within its borders.

Residents of Montana are pushing a similar effort. Activists there are gathering signatures to place a measure on the November ballot to similarly redefine corporations so they can’t spend money in elections. If the measure passes, it will go into effect in January 2027, six months before Hawaii’s law takes effect.

In fact, according to Moore, Hawaii’s legislators borrowed the language for their bill from Montana’s ballot measure and sped it through their legislative process, pleasantly surprising advocates. Moore is confident the Montana effort will succeed. “They’re in very, very good shape, they’re incredibly well-organized,” he said.

At least 14 states, including Rhode Island, are currently considering similar bills. Rhode Island’s proposal, S2619 or the “Rhode Island Corporate Power Reset Act,” would also redefine corporations in a way that prohibits political spending. The bill sponsored by Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat, was held for further study after its hearing in April by the chamber’s Committee on Judiciary. The bill is not expected to advance before the end of the legislative session, a Senate spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon.

Even so, Moore said the center has had outreach from people in almost every state. Given the fact that it’s been less than a year since he first published his idea, the speed at which it’s caught on across the country has been remarkable.

Curtailing corporate influence on the political system is essential at a time when corporations are thriving while ordinary Americans struggle to make ends meet. 

“At the end of the day, corporations don’t actually work for their shareholders, they work for us because we create them through our legislatures, through our laws,” Moore said.“And if corporations are doing something in our state that we don’t like, we have the power as citizens and working through our legislators to do something about that.”