Hawaii has not passed bill to remove Trump from 2024 presidential ballot | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Hawaii passed bill to remove Trump from 2024 presidential ballot

A Feb. 6 article by the Gateway Pundit claims legislation purportedly passed in Hawaii will heavily impact the upcoming presidential election.

"Hawaii Democrats Pass Bill to Remove President Trump from Ballot," reads the article's headline.

Similar versions of the claim were shared on Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: Partly false

A bill that could disqualify Trump passed through its first vote in Hawaii's Senate and the Senate Judiciary Committee, but it still has to pass through several more votes in the Senate, House and committees before it could be signed into law by the governor. And the bill does not name Donald Trump. The article originated from a website that regularly publishes false and exaggerated claims.

Bill is far from becoming a law

Hawaii is one of the latest states to attempt to remove the former president from the upcoming election ballot. Of the dozens of challenges to Trump filed around the country, Colorado is the only state that has succeeded in court so far. The Supreme Court is reviewing the case.

The Hawaii bill, SB2392, doesn't directly name Trump but would exclude candidates that violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment or Article 16, Section 3 of the Hawaii State Constitution from running for office. Both sections bar those who have engaged in or attempted to engage in insurrections or rebellions against the state from becoming government officials.

This could potentially apply to Trump, but the senator who introduced the bill, Democrat Karl Rhoads, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser the bill would apply to all candidates.

"If Joe Biden participates in an insurrection, it would apply to him, too," Rhoads said.

SB2392 passed through its first reading in the Senate on Jan. 22 and passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 6, but it has not yet been signed into law as the Gateway Pundit article suggests.

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To become a law, the bill will have to go through two more rounds of voting in the Senate and any committees it's referred to before being sent to the House and going through the same process there, according to the process laid out by Hawaii's Legislative Reference Bureau. If any changes are made to the bill while passing through the House, it will have to be sent back to the Senate for approval of the amendments.

Only after the bill passes through all these stages can it be sent to the governor to be either vetoed or signed into law.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of false claims from the Gateway Pundit, including claims that a software company’s contract allows officials to override election results, that Biden gave the World Health Organization full authority over U.S. pandemic policies and that George Soros endorsed Ron DeSantis for president.

USA TODAY reached out to the Gateway Pundit but did not immediately receive a response.

The Associated Press also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Article misrepresents status of Hawaii ballot bill | Fact check