The US Supreme Court’s 1976 decision in Buckley v. Valeo constitutes a central obstacle to effective campaign finace reform. The ruling does this in two ways: First, equating money with speech, the decision prohibited governments from imposing spending limits on candidates.… Read More
Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC is the first Supreme Court ruling on contribution limits since since 1976, when in the landmark decision Buckley vs. Valeo , 424 U.S. 1 it said free-speech rights trump any attempt to limit a candidate’s spending.… Read More
Over 80 local governments have passed some form of campaign finance legislation. The National Civic League has compiled an Inventory of Local Reforms of those it knows about. Over half of those reforms have been enacted since 1990 and it is likely that there are more reforms out there yet to be discovered.… Read More
Oregon’s 1994 Ballot Measure 6 amended the state constitution to allow candidates to "use or direct only contributions which originate from individuals who at the time of their donation were residents of the electoral district of the public office sought by the candidate."(Oregon Constitution Art. II, § 22) It imposed a 10 percent cap on the total amount of money a candidate could accept from contributors residing outside the district.… Read More
In 1996 the Alaska Legislature adopted a campaign finance reform law that banned contributions from business and unions and capped campaign contributions at $500 per individual. The new law also put a cap on the contributions that a candidate for governor, lieutenant governor or state legislator could receive from individuals not living in Alaska.… Read More
In 2002, Colorado voters approved Amendment 27 by a 2-to-1 margin to enact comprehensive campaign finance reform for state-level political campaigns. A coalition of groups, including the League of Women Voters of Colorado, Colorado Common Cause, Reclaim Democracy, and Voter Revolt helped develop and supported the grassroots reform measure under the campaign slogan "Get Big Money Out of Politics".… Read More
This organization is dedicated to helping enact sweeping campaign finance reform and reduce the role of special interest money in elections. This is their model rule for clean election reform.… Read More
The Vermont clean election law offers a public financing option to candidates running for governor and lieutenant governor in the year 2000, and commissions a study to consider extending the option to other state offices after the 2000 elections.… Read More
In 2002 North Carolina’s legislature adopted a measure that provides for public financing of judicial campaigns, as well as a nonpartisan elections system for supreme court justices and appeals court judges. This is the first such program in the nation for judicial elections.… Read More