With no debate, minimal discussion and not even a whisper of an objection, the Senate Rules committee yesterday sent S. 375, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, to the floor of the Senate by a voice vote. The understated proceedings reflect the nature of the legislation. The Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act is, at its core, a technical fix to an antiquated paper filing process. It's not a major change to the law that would require hours of debate. If the Senate were a rational body, the noncontroversial legislation would be enacted immediately and without fanfare. But assuming the Senate is rational is a big “if.”
Continue readingStates Lead on E-Filing, Will the Senate Catch Up?
It seems our Senators have a thing or two learn from their home states when it comes to campaign finance reporting: 31 states currently require mandatory electronic reporting ("e-filing") of their elected representative's campaign finance records -- a leap above our Senate, which has failed to pass no-brainer e-filing legislation for over a decade. Sunlight conducted a review of the current state of similar filings in the states (see chart below), and the results are pretty surprising -- in a great way. State governments across the country -- 92% of them, in fact -- require at least optional, if not mandatory electronic filing for both houses of their bicameral legislatures.
Continue readingSunlight Calls on Senators to File Campaign Finance Reports Electronically
In an open letter to Senators, the Sunlight Foundation called for all senators to file their campaign finance information electronically... View Article
Continue readingFree the Bill: It’s time for Electronic Filing Legislation to Become Law
One week from today, House and Senate candidates will file their campaign finance reports. Even this far out from the next elections, many thousands of pages documenting many millions of dollars of campaign contributions will be filed. And those reports will contain some interesting information—which donors are trying to make their mark by giving early and often; which industries are hedging their bets by donating to both parties and which are more partisan; whether there is a spike in contributions that can be tied to a particular issue or interest; and which special interest may be using the campaign finance process to gain access or influence with particular members of Congress.
The Senate is trying to trim its budget. They can boost transparency at the same time.
380,251.
That is the number of pages contained in more than 5,000 campaign reports that the Secretary of the Senate's Office of Public Records scanned, processed, and sent to the FEC last year. That number emerged during testimony given by Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson to justify her budget request before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Legislative Branch Subcommittee this morning.
Despite their frugal rhetoric, most Senators have refused to move past their costly, inefficient paper-based campaign finance filing system. As they try to find ways to trim budgets, they should eliminate the expensive, anachronistic, and opaque practice of filing their campaign finance reports on paper rather than electronically, as presidential and House candidates along with Political Action Committees have been doing for years.
Oppose Government Waste and Support Government Accountability in a Single Bill
As of midnight last night, candidates for federal office were to have filed their campaign finance disclosure reports with the... View Article
Continue readingAfter TCamp, Become an Advocate for Open Government
The Sunlight Foundation’s sister organization, the Sunlight Network, is organizing Citizen Advocacy Day, an exciting opportunity for citizens to let... View Article
Continue readingObama Pushes Senate E-Filing in Proposed Budget
President Obama’s 2014 budget includes a Sunlight priority that won’t erase the deficit, but will streamline the way that important... View Article
Continue readingSenator Tester Keeps Fighting the Good Fight for Transparency
Today, Senator Tester announced that once again he has introduced the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, (not yet online) a... View Article
Continue readingLobbying Reform in Delaware: One Step at a Time
Last week, the Delaware legislature sent an interesting bill to Governor Jack Merkell: SB 185, a short, targeted piece of... View Article
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