Corporate executives would again be able to transfer unlimited amounts of money from their treasuries into corporate political action committees under revisions to state campaign-finance law agreed to yesterday by state House and Senate conferees.

But conferees also restored a separate rule to prevent corporations from using partnerships or subsidiaries to get around maximum donation limits to political candidates.

The two items had been part of the law before but had been cut out last session, leading to an internal discussion among lawmakers about whether the cut was inadvertent or intentional.

"It was to clarify all the confusion that resulted from us passing out the law last time," explained state Rep. Sylvia Luke, D-26th (Punchbowl, Pacific Heights, Nu'uanu Valley), the chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee.

The bill containing the revisions now goes to the House and Senate for final approval.

The state Campaign Spending Commission had interpreted the law to mean that corporate executives were limited to giving $1,000 in the primary and $1,000 in the general election from their treasuries to corporate PACs, the same limit as individual donors to PACs. But some legislators, and Attorney General Mark Bennett, said that was not what was intended.

The commission defended the interpretation as a check on corporate influence in politics but could not get lawmakers to agree. The commission was successful, however, at getting lawmakers to put back the limit on donations by corporate partnerships and subsidiaries. In the past, some corporations had been caught trying to avoid donation limits by moving money through related companies.

The revision agreed to yesterday would prevent a corporation and its partnerships and subsidiaries from each giving the maximum amount to candidates when the companies are basically controlled by the same corporate executives or shareholders.

"All bills are a compromise and we got a lot of what we wanted," said Barbara Uphouse Wong, executive director of the commission.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.