FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
from the California Clean Money Action Fund
Contact: Trent Lange
Los Angeles - The California Clean Money Action Fund
announced the bills that will be scored in the 2013-2014
California Clean Money Scorecard. The scorecard rates
legislators on how often they side with regular
Californians by voting for key campaign finance reform and
disclosure legislation that is overwhelmingly popular with
voters. The 2011-2012 edition of the scorecard can be seen
at
www.CAcleanaction.org/scorecard.
"Voters need to know which legislators are Clean Money
Champions fighting for real campaign finance reform, and
which instead side more often with Big Money special
interests", said Trent Lange, President of the
California Clean Money Action Fund. "Our Clean Money
Scorecard helps shine light on who's working to make
candidates and elected officials more accountable to voters
than to campaign contributors, Dark Money, and Super
PACs."
Behind the scenes activity can be as important as votes
themselves. The Clean Money Scorecard takes that into
account by giving positive "Insider Scores" to legislators
who author or co-author bills or who otherwise help pass
reform. When individual legislators are known to have
blocked progress, they receive negative "Insider
Scores".
The bills identified for the 2013-2014 Scorecard are:
SB 52 (Leno-Hill), the California
DISCLOSE Act. Sponsored by the California Clean Money
Campaign. SB 52 requires political ads for ballot
measures and outside ads for and against candidates to
clearly show their three largest funders (two in the case
of radio ads). It includes language for disclosures to
"follow the money" so the funders shown are the actual
original corporations, unions, or individuals that gave the
most, not misleading names.
Columnist Thomas Elias called "the DISCLOSE Act the most
important bill the Legislature considered in the past
year... It will be again in 2014." As such, SB 52
will have the highest weight in the scorecard. SB 52
passed the Senate last year and will likely appear in the
Assembly Elections committee on June.
SB 27 (Correa), the "Dark Money"
non-profit bill. Sponsored by the Fair Political
Practices Commission. SB 27 closes the loophole
that allows contributors to avoid disclosure by giving
through non-profit organizations. SB 27 has passed both
the Senate and the Assembly, and faces a concurrence vote
in the Senate at any time.
SB 2 (Lieu-Yee), the Sunshine in
Campaigns Act. Sponsored by California Common Cause
and the League of Women Voters of California. SB 2
requires candidates to "stand by their ad", requires more
disclosures on slate mailers, and raises fines on
violations of campaign, lobbying, or ethics laws. SB 2 has
passed the Senate, passed Assembly committees, and awaits
an Assembly floor vote.
SB 3 (Yee-Lieu), the Sunshine in
Campaigns Act. Sponsored by California Common Cause
and the League of Women Voters of California. SB 3
required the Secretary of State to complete by the end of
this year a feasibility report on modernizing its
antiquated website tracking campaign contributions and
lobbyists, and required campaign treasurers to take an
online training course. It was passed by the legislature
last year but vetoed by Governor Brown.
SB 844 (Pavley), Top 10 Contributor Lists
for Ballot Measures. SB 844 will require the
Secretary of State website to keep lists of the top 10
contributors for and against each ballot measure, and
require the ballot pamphlet to tell voters where they can
find them. SB 844 is scheduled for its first committee
hearing in Senate Elections on March 18.
Bills may be added to the scorecard if they are endorsed by
the California Clean Money Campaign and the broader good
government community.
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The California Clean Money Action Fund is a non-profit,
non-partisan 501(c)(4) organization that has been fighting
for legislation and ballot measures to limit the undue
influence of Big Money in politics in California since
2006. www.CAcleanAction.org.
