Sen. Schumer is holding a press conference with Rep. Van Hollen right now about his framework for reforms in light of Citizens United. His plan has five parts. In broad terms, the reforms seek to ban foreign corporate influence on elections, regulate political advertising by bailout recipients and government contractors, new disclosure requirements, new disclaimer requirements, and lowest unit rate requirements for candidates (and their parties) when corporations run ads involving them. There will be a lot to sort through once the legislation is announced.
UPDATE: Vogel’s Politico report is here.
UPDATE: A response from the Center for Competitive Politics is here and a reaction from PIRG is here.
UPDATE: The framework document from Rep. Van Hollen and Sen. Schumer is available here. On coordination, the framework explains:
Current FEC rules bar corporations and unions from coordinate [sic] with candidates and parties about most ads distributed within 90 days of a House or Senate primary election or within 90 days of the general election. For Presidential contests, current FEC rules allow coordination on ads referencing a presidential candidate 120 days before a state’s Presidential primary election and continuing in that state through the general election. [?]
This legislation would do the following:
For House and Senate races, the legislation would ban coordination between a corporation or union and the candidate on ads referencing a Congressional candidate within 90 days of the primary through the general election.
For all federal elections, at any time before the 90- or 120-day window opens, it would ban coordination of ads between a corporation or union and the candidate when they promote, support, attack or oppose a candidate.
UPDATE: The framework also includes a provision on coordination, an issue the Federal Election Commission is currently considering in a pending rulemaking. According to CNN, the legislation may include a “ban on corporations and unions coordinating election ads with federal campaigns if those ads promote or oppose a specific candidate.” The so-called “PASO” standard was introduced in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 and was discussed in McConnell‘s footnote 64.