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View Full Version : Sen. Schumer "revises" DISCLOSE Act




bobbyw24
07-23-2010, 06:57 AM
In an effort to convince the Maine twins, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, to support the DISCLOSE Act, Senator Schumer filed a new, longer version of the legislation that struck out certain last minute provisions included in the House version.

The Hill reports:

The bill specifically jettisons a provision dealing with requirements that all businesses, unions and groups must disclose transfers to or from or between their affiliates of $10,000 or more, according to a Senate aide familiar with the changes.

But another change would affect all groups. In the House-passed version, businesses and groups would be forced to disclose transfers of $50,000 or more between organizations and other businesses only if the money could be traced back to an individual large donor.

"That's a huge loophole that escaped notice [in the House-passed version]," the Senate aide said. "That loophole was closed to improve the integrity of the bill."

In addition, Schumer got rid of an amendment that would have barred any oil and gas companies that drill in the Outer Continental Shelf from funding political advertisements.

He modified another provision requiring businesses and groups to state their geographic locations in political advertisement disclaimers. The new bill would only require those locations to be highlighted in TV and not radio ads because television ads could do so visually while radio ads would have to voice the lengthy disclaimer.

While these changes are intended to make the bill appear to apply to all groups (corporations, unions, and non-profits) equally, the clause forcing disclosure of donors who give more than $600 is still in the new version (avg. union dues are well below the $600 mark) as is the carve-out for groups like the NRA, AARP, and others.

Additionally, the modifications to the geographic disclosure still does not shorten the estimated time (around 15 seconds) used in the disclosure statement, as that provision was added as a last minute amendment to the House version.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/index.php#37126