Honolulu Civil Beat
Civil Beat is the largest news outlet dedicated to public affairs reporting about Hawaii. Our focus is on investigative and watchdog journalism, in-depth enterprise reporting, analysis and commentary that gives readers a broad view on issues of importance to the community.
Created in 2010 by eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar, Civil Beat has quickly become one of the most respected news sites in Hawaii. Our journalists have won dozens of state and regional awards and Civil Beat has been named the best news website in Hawaii for the past four years by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Civil Beat also hopes to foster community discussion by providing a place where citizens can debate important issues in a civil manner, free from cheap shots and personal swipes. We do that through encouraging a wide variety of reader-written Community Voices, public events and through our integrated Facebook comments.
The Hawaii House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee last Thursday deferred a measure that would establish a public financing option for candidates seeking state and county public offices. The bill known as Senate Bill 2381 was driven by the honorable intention of keeping big money out of campaigns, thus opening the race for more candidates.
Testifiers in support of this bill lauded the effort to remove the threat of outsized influence on policy makers by wealthy individuals, corporations and lobbyists. The decision to spike the bill has met with a predictable outcry from those who feel sitting lawmakers are being self-protective.