The state House, shaky after public criticism that lawmakers were opening the floodgates to corporate campaign contributions, turned back a bill yesterday that would have lifted a restriction on how much corporations can give to corporate political action committees.

The bill is the latest attempt to clarify a 2005 change to campaign-finance law that limited contributions from corporate treasuries to corporate PACs to $1,000. The state Campaign Spending Commission's interpretation of the law was successfully challenged in Maui District Court and the commission has appealed, so enforcement of the law is in limbo and corporations technically are not bound by any limit.

Lawmakers this session first proposed to raise the limit to $25,000, then stripped out the limit entirely in the state House Judiciary Committee. The House voted yesterday to send the bill back to the committee, where it is possible it could be amended and revived before the end of session.

"We're glad that they took our concerns to heart," said Nikki Love, a spokeswoman for Common Cause Hawai'i, which was among the public interest groups that urged lawmakers to kill the bill.

Activists who want to reduce the influence of corporate money in politics have accused state Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, D-41st (Waipahu, Village Park, Waikele), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and other lawmakers of acting in their political self-interest.

Karamatsu said that some activists and lawmakers have confused the issue by suggesting corporations would be able to give large amounts of money directly to candidates.

Under the Campaign Spending Commission's interpretation of the law, however, corporate money is supposed to flow transparently into PACs, which may then donate to candidates up to campaign donation limits for state House, Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, county council and mayoral campaigns.

The Maui court found that corporations should be able to give money to candidates without going through corporate PACs, but that corporations must still abide by the donation limits of each particular campaign.

"People are getting confused," Karamatsu said. "It's not like corporations can give us $50,000. Once they give the money into that PAC, there's several hundred politicians around the state of Hawai'i that they may or may not want to support."

Some lawmakers have said privately for the past few years that some activists are deliberately exaggerating a complicated issue — warning, for example, of a "tsunami" of corporate cash if the limit is lifted — in the hopes of getting a ban on corporate contributions. The federal government and more than 20 states ban direct corporate contributions to candidates.

Asked whether activists had distorted the issue, Love said, "Oh, gosh no. I think it makes sense to most people that we shouldn't allow corporate contributions."

Several lawmakers also spoke out against lifting the limit on corporate money. "If there is no limit to corporate contributions, it adds a lot of fuel to the fire, a lot of money into the campaign process," said state Rep. Barbara Marumoto, R-19th (Wai'alae Iki, Kalani Valley, Kahala), who acknowledged that the existing law is in limbo pending a court ruling.

State Rep. Della Au Belatti, D-25th (Tantalus, Makiki, McCully), was circulating a cartoon showing a large cat dressed as a corporate tycoon and holding a bag of money saying, "Ahh ... I finally get a voice in Hawai'i politics!"

"I think that the grassroots really weighed in on this one," Belatti said. "There was just a lot of individuals calling in and letting their voices be known. I think people realized what the impact of this legislation would have had on the campaign-finance system."

A separate bill that would lift a restriction on Mainland donations, which could influence fundraising by candidates in the 2010 governor's race, is up before the House Finance Committee tomorrow.