Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act of 2009

Current status


As with similar legislation introduced by Sen. Feingold in the 110th Congress, S.482 is the target of an effort by a Republican senator to block the legislation. Sen. Pat Roberts (Ks.) is attempting to insert an amendment that would force outside groups to disclose their donors if that group files an ethics complaint against a senator.

Support and opposition
Organizations including the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) and the Sunlight Foundation have publicly supported the bill. CFI argues that the U.S. Supreme Court [in the 1976 case of Buckley v. Valeo (424 U.S. 1)] declared that one of the fundamental purposes of disclosure is to make important information available in a timely fashion, before an election, so that voters can use the information when making their election choices. This objective, according to both CFI and Sunlight, is frustrated by the absence of mandatory electronic disclosure for Senate elections.

No arguments have been articulated publicly in opposition to this bill's provisions.

External resources

 * Sunlight Foundation
 * The Campaign Finance Institute