WASHINGTON, DC – Legislation was reintroduced today with the support of U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa) to bring new transparency following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case. The DISCLOSE Act of 2012 will help put an end to secretive campaign spending by strengthening disclosure laws.
The legislation, introduced by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, was cosponsored by 33 additional Senators. Senator Casey was also an original cosponsor of the legislation in the previous Congress.
“The Citizens United decision has led to a flood of corporate money into campaigns, giving the very wealthy the ability to saturate the airwaves anonymously without being accountable for their words,” said Senator Casey. “This is commonsense legislation to respond to the increased power of corporate special interests and the role of money in politics.”
The Act requires any covered organization that spends $10,000 or more during an election cycle to file a report with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours, detailing the amount and nature of each expenditure over $1,000 and the names of all of its donors who gave $10,000 or more. Transfer provisions in the bill prevent donors from using shell organizations to hide their activities.
To make sure that organizations and individuals take responsibility for negative or misleading political advertising, the legislation also includes “stand-by-your-ad” disclaimer requirements that require any organization that puts a political ad on TV or radio to list its top funders in the ads. The head of the organization also must appear in the ad and state that he or she approves the message, just as candidates must do now.
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