House Bill 616: Independent Campaign Expenditures Restriction Act

Like many Americans, I was very dismayed by the recent Supreme Court ruling in the case of Citizens United vs. the FEC in which 5 Supreme Court Justices tossed out over a century of precedent by giving corporations the same free-speech rights guaranteed in our Constitution to persons. This ruling allows massive corporations to hijack elections with unlimited independent expenditures, thus drowning out the voices of individual Americans. It effectively reverses years of progress on campaign finance reform and returns our country to the anything-goes, pre-Watergate days of political influence-peddling. It is very corrosive for our democracy.

The Supreme Court’s decision has left many good-government advocates stunned at the new reality of money's increased influence in our elections. Although I'm a very strong supporter of businesses, I feel that our democracy should represent the people's interest -- not the corporate interest. I am proud that 80 percent of my campaign financing comes from regular people -- not special interests or corporations. This is amongst the highest of any elected official in all of Montgomery County.

As a State Legislator, I am bound by the new constitutional reality created by the high court. Even so, I believe it is my duty to find creative and innovative ways to make sure that our elections reflect the peoples' will not those of Wal-Mart, Exxon-Mobile and Halliburton.

For this reason, I have introduced House Bill 616: Independent Campaign Expenditure Restriction Act. This bill mandates that:

1. Whenever any corporation makes an independent campaign expenditure for an MD state level (or lower) election in excess of $10,000 it has to be reported and disclosed publicly online within 24 hours.


2. Before any corporation makes an independent campaign expenditure for an MD state level (or lower) election in excess of $10,000 it has to get approval from the majority of its shareholders.


3. Any corporation doing business with the State of MD cannot make an independent campaign expenditure for an MD state level (or lower) election.

The idea is to make it more difficult for such corporations to simply dump tens of millions of dollars into election campaigns to elect candidates most amenable to their interests.

You can read the text of the bill by clicking here.