After seven long years of citizen activism ...
with no dark money and faced by corporate lobbies, the California Disclose Act is finally a reality.
California Clean Money Campaign, October 7th, 2017
Today, Governor
Jerry Brown signed into law the landmark California DISCLOSE Act (AB
249), the nation's most comprehensive election disclosure law.
"No more
fine print,"
said the bill's author, Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin. "California
voters will now be able to make informed decisions, based on honest information
about who the true funders are of campaign ads. This transparency is critical
to our democracy and I am proud that California has taken this historic first
step to shine the light on 'dark money'. Hopefully this will encourage others
to follow suit."
Assembly Bill
249, authored by Assemblymembers Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo) and Marc Levine
(D-San Rafael), and sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign, requires
ballot measure ads and independent expenditure ads for or against candidates to
clearly and prominently disclose the identity of their top three funders, and
includes first-in-the-nation follow-the-money rules to make ballot measure ads
show their true funders.
"With the
quiet gesture of a signature, Governor Brown has loudly proclaimed California
to be the national leader on the most important issue of our era: taking our
democracy back from the special interests and restoring it to the people," said Trent Lange, President of the
California Clean Money Campaign, sponsor of AB 249. "Every American who
cares about democracy owes Governor Brown, Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin
Mullin, and all the bold leaders in the California Legislature of both parties
who helped AB 249 pass an enduring debt of gratitude."
AB 249's
overwhelming passage through the legislature also represents an uncommon
bipartisan victory for campaign finance reform legislation that hopefully bodes
well for the future, with every Democrat in both the Senate and Assembly joined
by seven Republicans: Senators Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres) and Scott Wilk
(R-Santa Clarita) and Assemblymembers Dante Acosta (R-Santa Clarita), Catharine
Baker (R-San Ramon), Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), Brian Maienschein (R-San Diego),
and Marc Steinorth (R-Rancho Cucamonga).
A crucial role in
AB 249's passage was played by not only author Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin
Mullin and joint author Assemblymember Marc Levine, but also by principal
co-authors Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), Senators Ben
Allen (D-Santa Monica), Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), and Henry Stern
(D-Calabasas), along with Assemblymembers Marc Berman (D-Los Altos), Matthew
Dababneh (D-Van Nuys), and Adrin Nazarian (D-Van Nuys). The other 18 coauthors
of the bill and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles) were also key
to its success.
Robert Stern, a
principal co-author of the Political Reform Act of 1974 and adviser on AB 249,
said, "I am pleased the Governor signed AB 249. It represents a major
advancement in disclosure on ads for both ballot measures and independent
expenditures for and against candidates."
Other leaders who
played crucial roles in the ultimate passage of AB 249 are the previous California
DISCLOSE Act authors who each moved the bill forward on different steps of
the way over the last seven years, starting with then Assemblymember (and now
Congressmember) Julia Brownley (author of AB 1148 and AB 1648 in 2011 and 2012),
Senators Mark Leno and Jerry Hill (authors of SB 52 in 2013 and 2014),
then-Assemblymember and now Congressmember Jimmy Gomez (author of AB 700 in
2015 and 2016 and original author of AB 14 and AB 249 this year).
But the biggest
thanks for AB 249's passage goes to the incredible grassroots and coalition
movement that propelled the California DISCLOSE Act forward each year
for the last seven years. The victory came after more than 350 organizations
and leaders endorsed AB 249, over 100,000 Californians signed petitions, tens
of thousands of Clean Money supporters sent emails, many thousands made phone
calls, hundreds packed hearing rooms, and other outpourings of grassroots
activism.
Unheralded but
heroic Clean Money leaders who worked on the California DISCLOSE Act for
years include dedicated, unpaid volunteer coordinators like Gary Appell in
Marin County, Suzie Arnett in Stockton, Craig Dunkerley in San Jose, Ellie
Garabedian in Fresno, James McCord in San Diego County, Nancy Neff in Palo
Alto, Teresa Priem in the San Fernando Valley, David Schmidt in San Francisco
(and beyond), David Sonneborn and John Goodman in Orange Country, Shirley
Shelangoski in the East Bay Area, Kevin Wolf in Davis, and countless others.Â
They were organized by a small but hard-working California Clean Money Campaign
and California Clean Money Action Fund staff including Catherine Ashworth,
Katherine Carpio, Trent Lange, and D'Marie Mulattieri.
"It is both
fitting and unsurprising that this landmark, against-all-odds legislative
victory for democracy was won the same way our republic was secured: by
thousands and thousands of passionate volunteer Americans who selflessly
devoted -- as in the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence --
'their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor' to the cause," said Trent Lange. "Make no
mistake about it, this was people power in action and this landmark victory
belongs to those countless heroes who made phone calls, wrote emails, made
signs, raised small contributions, and raised big hell until the legislature
passed AB 249 and Governor Brown signed it."
#####
California Clean Money Campaign is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization that
has been dedicated to educating the public about the need to lessen the unfair
influence of Big Money on election campaigns since 2001. For further
information, visit www.CAclean.org