The past year was a time of astonishing political foment on the mainland, with Black Lives Matter protests demanding law enforcement reforms and an abrupt shift to a liberal, activist government with the election of President Joe Biden.

But the Hawaii Legislature remained locked in a Capitol building that was closed to the public during the pandemic, and its leaders behaved as if they couldn’t hear all the noise outside.

Hawaii activists made online pleas for dramatic change in areas such as criminal justice, tax policy and the impact of tourism, but almost none of that will become law this year. As for social services, it was the federal government that provided real relief for Hawaii’s working families.

The public could have less transparency in elections and less insight into what political advertisements candidates are paying for under a pair of measures moving through the Hawaii Legislature.

House Bill 144 and House Bill 674 would exempt candidates for office from filing reports on ads with the state. That 20-year-old law was intended to shine a light on how much money candidates and super PACs are spending on ads during election season to sway voters.

Wording in the ad reporting law has confounded some campaigns and led to significant fines in recent years.

The agency in charge of regulating campaign finance has tried to introduce fixes this session. But now, that agency warns that the proposed candidate exemptions would erode scrutiny of campaigns.