Compliance Notes - Vol. 7, Issue 3

RECENT LOBBYING, ETHICS & CAMPAIGN FINANCE UPDATES

Campaign Finance & Lobbying Compliance

Hawaii: A federal judge in Hawaii permanently blocked enforcement of a new state law regulating AI-generated and digitally altered election content, ruling it violates the First Amendment. U.S. District Judge Shanlyn Park granted summary judgment to The Babylon Bee, holding that Hawaii's Act 191 imposed unconstitutional restrictions on political speech by barring digitally altered media shared with reckless disregard for potential reputational or electoral harm, even with disclaimer safe harbors. While acknowledging the state's compelling interest in protecting election integrity from deepfakes, Park found the law was not narrowly tailored, relied on vague and subjective standards and risked discriminatory enforcement. She concluded Hawaii failed to show existing laws and less restrictive alternatives, such as counter-speech, education or fraud and defamation enforcement,