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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 2, 2016 04:08 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Eddie Day Pashinski |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Legislation Requiring Shareholder Approval for Corporate Election Spending |
In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation requiring shareholder approval for corporate campaign contributions and independent expenditures. This legislation will be based on a similar bill being discussed in Maryland. As you may know, the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruled that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on independent expenditures calling for the election or defeat of political candidates. This decision was heavily based on the reasoning that this type of corporate election spending is protected political speech under the First Amendment, on the grounds that a corporation is speaking on behalf of their shareholders. However, these same corporations have no process for assessing what their shareholders actually want or what their political preferences actually are, which calls into question the basis of this ruling. To correct for this flaw, my legislation will prohibit corporations who are doing business in Pennsylvania from making a campaign contribution or independent expenditure unless the shareholders have been notified of and have been given the opportunity to vote on the proposed election spending. The corporation must then fairly represent the preferences of the majority of stockholders. If a corporation fails to do so, an affected shareholder may bring a civil action against the directors of the corporation to recover the amount of the election spending in question. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation to bring fairness and transparency to our system of campaign finance. |
Memo Updated: February 2, 2016 04:10 PM