Lawmakers take action to limit corporate influence
from KTUU Channel 2: A group of lawmakers in Juneau is taking action to limit corporate influence on elections. They introduced a pair of bills Friday in response to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. The bill sponsors say this legislation is particularly important when dealing with front groups– organizations created and paid for by a company to advance a particular cause.
Sen. Hollis French, Rep. Scott Kawasaki and Rep. Les Gara, all Democrats, introduced a measure which would require ads to include the phrase “paid for by” and it would list the top five contributors to the cause.
The other bill is more long-term and would make it clear that companies are not people; in other words, they should not have the same rights as citizens.
Since it’s the law of the land and since the Supreme Court decided that companies should be treated as individuals, the second bill would have no effect on policy, but sponsors say it would send a message that the state disagrees with the Supreme Court.
This is a joint effort with identical bills in the House and Senate.
“If this Legislature does nothing, you can bank on the fact that the major corporations that do business in this state will try and buy a better Legislature next year,” said Gara, D-Anchorage.
“We felt that it was imperative to act. It’s as clear as daylight that unless we act, corporations would probably not even have to report to APOC the spending they did,” French, D-Anchorage, said.
Click here to read the full story.
