American Anti-Corruption Act
It was crafted in 2011 "by former Federal Election Commission chairman Trevor Potter in consultation with dozens of strategists, democracy reform leaders and constitutional attorneys from across the political spectrum, and is supported by reform organizations such as Represent.Us, which advocate for the passage of local, state, and federal laws modeled after the AACA.
[3]" Co-authors include former Republican FEC commissioner Trevor Potter, Harvard professor and activist Lawrence Lessig, Theodore Roosevelt IV, and Represent.Us director Josh Silver.
Organizations such as Represent.Us advocate for state and local laws that reflect the provisions of the AACA, often using the ballot initiative process.
The referendum, which passed with 67 percent of the vote, established a city ethics board, created public rebates for political donations up to $25, instructed the board to create an ethics code within six months of the referendum's passage, and lowered the acceptable value of political contributions to city candidates to $250 per donor.
Candidates are now additionally prohibited from accepting contributions from people who have spent $5,000 lobbying the city within the past 12 months.
Ordinance 187680 mandated disclosures for political consultants: On May 17, 2016, county commissioners passed a memorandum requiring that all candidates register when they raise money for PACs.
The major features of IM-22 were campaign finance reform, including lowering contribution limits and requiring additional disclosures; the creation of a public financing program for state and legislative candidates; the creation of an ethics commission; and the implementation of "cooling off" periods that establish a duration former legislators must wait before taking work as a lobbyist.
The measure creates an appointed ethics commission to administer the credit program and to enforce campaign finance and lobbying laws.
It also places limitations on lobbyists' gifts to certain state officials and staff members.On December 8, 2016, Judge Mark Barnett of South Dakota's Sixth Circuit enjoined IM-22 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and violated single-subject law.
On February 2, 2017, South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed House Bill 1069, effectively repealing IM-22.
[18] The ballot measure, which passed with 89% of voter support, makes significant alterations to campaign finance law at the county level.
It also allowed for the creation of "small donor committees", which can accept no more than $100 from an individual within a year and can contribute unlimited amounts to candidates or independent expenditures.
It requires entities that spend "more than $750 per election cycle on independent expenditures" to register as political committees and report the sources of their funding.
"[18] On December 14, 2016, the City Council of Portland, Oregon, approved a small-donor matching program, dubbed Open and Accountable Elections.
[22] The Princeton resolution mentions six of the eleven provisions in the original AACA draft[23] Anti-Corruption Resolutions have been passed in the following locales:[24] An opinion poll commissioned by Represent.Us found that 90 percent of respondents support tighter limits on campaign finance, and 97 percent would support stronger anti-corruption measures.
