States Consider Requiring Shareholder Approval for Political Gifts.
Lawmakers in at least four states are considering a back-door way to dampen corporate political spending: Require shareholders to approve it.
State legislators in Maine, Maryland, New York and New Jersey have introduced bills that demand that a majority of shareholders approve corporate gifts to political committees or candidates.
Maryland’s bill is set to get a hearing from lawmakers this week. And more legislative buzz may be coming: The sponsor of the Maryland bill said he’s heard from about a dozen legislators from different states who are interested in the idea.
Supporters see the bills as a way to limit the influence of the landmark 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which ruled corporations had a right to spend unlimited amounts of money calling for the election or defeat of candidates. The decision affected laws in about half the states. . .
“The whole thesis of Citizens United is that the companies are just speaking for the shareholders,” said state Sen. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat who is sponsoring the bill in Maryland. “If this is going to be anything more than a cynical fiction, then state legislatures need to act to make it real.”
Raskin’s bill would require corporations to get shareholders’ approval for an annual political budget and a slate of candidates or committees the money would support. It would only apply to businesses incorporated in Maryland.
http://billmoyers.com/2015/02/22/states-consider-requiring-shareholder-approval-political-gifts/
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