American Elections Act of 2010: Post-Citizens United legislation on foreign national issue

Sen. Franken released a bill involving foreign national political activity, according to this report.  The American Elections Act of 2010 is summarized here.  The bill purports to:

[Ban] election contributions and spending by corporations that are controlled or highly influenced by foreign nationals (foreign governments, companies, and persons).  This includes:

– Corporations that receive most of their financing from foreign nationals.
– Corporations where foreign nationals hold a controlling share of stock (as defined under leading corporate law) or a majority of the Board of Directors.
– Corporations that allow foreign nationals to control or participate in their political activities including ad spending, donations, and political action committees.

[Require] all corporations to certify, before giving or spending in elections, that they are in compliance with these requirements.

[Require] all corporations to disclose in their political advertising how much of their company is controlled by foreign nationals, or if this isn’t possible, how much of their financing comes from foreign nationals.

The House version is H.R. 4517.  It also seems to provide for a $1 million fine for a violation of the law.

Comments are closed.