Litigation

WI Senate OKs Shareholder Consent Bill

By Peter Hardin

Corporations would need to get shareholder approval before spending money on political advertising and would be required to disclose this spending, under a bill approved by Wisconsin’s Senate.

Wisconsin is among a number of states nationwide where legislators have scrambled to respond to the Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court, permitting unlimited corporate and union spending to support or oppose political candidates.

Under the bill heading to the Wisconsin Assembly,  corporations would be required to notify state officials that a majority of shareholders voted to support political spending before the money could be expended, according to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The bill “represents one of the needed countermeasures to the Citizens United decision,” the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a partner of Justice at Stake, testified in its support. You can catch up with the group’s latest E-lert on the legislation by clicking here.

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 14, 2010 (boomark / email).