Litigation

?Citizens United:? More States Weigh Legislation

By Peter Hardin

The rush to rewrite campaign finance laws in state legislatures, in order to comply with Citizens United, is the topic of an article in USA Today.

It presents a good roundup on these efforts, with special attention paid to bills in Iowa and Maryland for disclosure of corporate political spending and to require shareholder approval.

The Associated Press brings an update from still another state, West Virginia, where a House committee advanced bills to require reporting of spending for independent advertising and for shareholder approval in advance of corporate political spending.

The same panel advanced earlier in the week a bill to provide public financing for state Supreme Court candidates in the 2012 elections, according to a report by MetroNews. The legislation was introduced after an independent commission made recommendations on judicial reform (see Gavel Grab.)

Meanwhile advocacy groups that have opposed the Citizens United ruling could benefit from corporate spending enabled by it, according to the Boston Globe, but whether that will actually happen isn’t certain.

To learn more about Citizens United, read Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 24, 2010 (boomark / email).