Litigation

States Responding to Citizens United: An Update

By Peter Hardin

Some state lawmakers are scrambling to draft new legislation in response to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, while the attorney general in another state is standing firm until there’s a court challenge.

An updated round-up of state legislative activity comes from an article in Arizona Capitol Times, to which Gavel Grab was alerted by Election Law blog. A few highlights:

• In Iowa, Maryland, South Dakota, and West Virginia, bills were introduced to require a green light from shareholders before corporations can spend treasury dollars on campaign advertising.
• A number of states are revising their laws to apply the same reporting requirements to corporate and labor union advertising as they do for other independent expenditures.
• Montana has had a longstanding ban on corporate campaign spending in candidate elections, and state Attorney General Steve Bullock has pledged to continue to enforce it until the ban is challenged in court.

Citizens United lifted restrictions and permits corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited sums for and against candidates in elections. You can read more about the ways states are responding in Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 05, 2010 (boomark / email).