FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
from the California Clean Money Action Fund
Contact: Trent Lange
Los Angeles - The California Clean Money Action Fund
announced that it is updating the California Clean Money
Scorecard for 2013-2014 by adding two bills that call for
overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United and
McCutcheon rulings: SB 1272 (Lieu) and AJR 1 (Gatto).
The scorecard rates legislators on how often they side with
regular Californians by voting for legislation containing
key campaign finance and disclosure reforms that are
overwhelmingly popular with voters.? The 2011-2012 edition
of the scorecard can be seen at
www.CAcleanaction.org/scorecard.
SB 1272 (Lieu), the Overturn Citizens
United Act.? Sponsored by the Money Out Voters In
Coalition.? SB 1272 would put an advisory question
on the November ballot that lets California voters tell
Congress to create a constitutional amendment to overturn
Citizens United and to regulate campaign contributions and
spending.? SB 1272 passed the Senate Elections committee on
a vote of 4-1 and is now in the Senate Appropriations
committee.
AJR 1 (Gatto), an official call for an
Article V Constitutional Convention.? AJR 1 would
officially petition Congress for a federal constitutional
convention for the purpose of solely amending the United
States Constitution with a single amendment to limit
"corporate personhood" for purposes of campaign finance and
political speech, and declare that money does not
constitute speech.? AJR 1 passed the Assembly on a vote of
51-20 and will be in the Senate Judiciary committee in
June.
"The Supreme Court's Citizens United and McCutcheon
decisions have gutted more than a hundred years of campaign
finance laws with the outrageous rationale that limiting
spending on elections limits speech," said Trent Lange,
President of the California Clean Money Action Fund.?
"SB 1272 and AJR 1 are two important ways for California
to call for overturning them, and so are crucial additions
to the Clean Money Scorecard's efforts to shed light on
which legislators are Clean Money Champions fighting for
real campaign finance reform, and which instead side more
often with Big Money special interests."
The bills previously announced for inclusion in 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 appear in the Assembly
Elections committee in 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 was signed into
law by Governor Brown on May 13th, 2014 after passing both
the Assembly and the State Senate with overwhelming and
bipartisan votes of 58-12 and 28-7, respectively.? It will
go into effect on July 1st, 2014.
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
disclosure 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 (2014) 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 display lists of the top 10
contributors for and against each ballot measure, and
require the ballot pamphlet to state where voters can find
them.? SB 844 passed the Senate Elections committee
unanimously and is now in the Senate Appropriations
committee.
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.
