Bill Text: NJ AR184 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Congress to pass legislation requiring publicly traded corporations to disclose all political contributions made thereby.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2013-09-09 - Withdrawn from Consideration [AR184 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-AR184-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JACK M. CIATTARELLI
District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Urges Congress to pass legislation requiring publicly traded corporations to disclose all political contributions made thereby.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution urging the Congress of the United States to pass legislation to require publicly traded corporations to disclose all political contributions made thereby.
Whereas, The full disclosure of the sources of the money used in a political campaign is a central tenet of current state and federal campaign finance law, one which has been affirmed many times by the United States Supreme Court, and most recently in the decision issued on January 21, 2010 in Citizens United v. The Federal Elections Commission; and
Whereas, At the same time, the Citizens United decision overturned earlier rulings by the Court that restricted campaign spending by publicly traded corporations in support of, or in opposition to, political candidates, thus clearing the way for unlimited spending by such corporations on political campaigns; and
Whereas, During the 2012 election cycle, tax-exempt interest groups and trade associations spent hundreds of millions of dollars on political advertising, but the initial source of those funds is not known because such groups are not required by federal law to disclose the origin of such donations; and
Whereas, There is, however, ample evidence that a significant portion of this money came from publicly traded corporations seeking to intervene in campaigns without being identified, so as to not offend their customers, shareholders or the lawmakers they targeted for defeat; and
Whereas, This practice has given publicly traded corporations an easy means to donate significant amounts of money to tax-exempt trade associations and interest groups for the purpose of influencing the outcome of elections without having to face public scrutiny or backlash; and
Whereas, Proponents of political spending by publicly traded corporations argue that disclosure is not important to investors because the amount of money at issue is too small to have a significant effect on a publicly traded corporation's bottom line, while opponents argue that shareholders have a right to full disclosure since corporate boards and CEOs are the agents of shareholders--whose capital is at risk--and they have no reporting system available to them to monitor whether such spending is jeopardizing the fortunes of the publicly traded corporation; and
Whereas, Public opinion consistently opposes the upswing in corporate political spending, with a 2012 poll finding 62 percent of the public opposing the Supreme Court's holding in Citizens United, and a 2006 survey by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research finding that 73 percent of shareholders believe that corporate political spending is often undertaken to advance the private political interests of corporate executives rather than the interests of the publicly traded corporation and its shareholders; and
Whereas, The increase in corporate political spending has led elected officials, shareholder activists and pension fund managers to call on the federal Securities and Exchange Commission to require publicly traded corporations to disclose to shareholders all of their political spending, a move that would shed more light on such secret campaign spending; and
Whereas, It is notable that there are already approximately 40 Standard & Poor's corporations, including Aflac, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, that voluntarily provide semi-annual reporting, oversight and review of policies and practices by the board of directors, and links to quarterly expenditure reports to clarify the process for determining contribution priorities; and
Whereas, To preserve the integrity of our electoral system and democratic system of government, it is essential that information about political spending by publicly traded corporations be disclosed to shareholders and the public, just as spending by individuals and political committees is already required to be disclosed by law; and
Whereas, It is thus fitting and proper for this House to urge the Congress of the United States to pass legislation to require publicly traded corporations to disclose all political contributions made thereby; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House urges the Congress of the United States to pass legislation to require publicly traded corporations to disclose all political contributions made thereby.
2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and attested by the Clerk thereof, shall be transmitted to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of Congress elected from this State.
STATEMENT
This Assembly Resolution urges the Congress of the United States to pass legislation to require public traded corporations to disclose all political contributions made thereby.
