Marking Sunshine Week, Tester Introduces Trio of Measures Aimed at Cleaning Up Elections and Politics

Senator: “Special interests and big money donors have far too much power in our political system, and it’s well past time we put a stop to it”

Marking the annual Sunshine Week, aimed at increasing transparency in politics, U.S. Senator Jon Tester is continuing his crusade to clean up Washington and our elections with the introduction of three bills aimed at shining a light on dark money in politics, reducing the influence of corporations on elections, and increasing transparency across the political system.

Tester’s Corporations Are Not People Constitutional Amendment would overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and declare that corporations are not people; his Sunlight for Unaccountable Non-Profits (SUN) Act would increase transparency in online political advertising and require political non-profits to publically disclose their major donors; and his Cleaning Up Washington’s Act would close the revolving door between special interest lobbyist and Members of Congress.

“Special interests and big money donors have far too much power in our political system, and it’s well past time we put a stop to it,” Tester said. “These commonsense reforms will increase transparency and accountability in our elections, limit the corrosive influence of money in our politics, and help ensure that our democracy works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well connected.”

Corporations Are Not People Constitutional Amendment

• Tester’s Corporations Are Not People Constitutional Amendment would overturn the harmful Citizens United decision, restore Congress’ right to limit corporate influence in elections by declaring that corporations are not people, and take away dark money groups’ ability to spend virtually unlimited amounts of money on elections.

Sunlight for Unaccountable Non-Profits (SUN) Act

• The SUN Act would bring political spending out of the shadows by requiring tax-exempt non-profit organizations that engage in political activity to publically disclose information about their big money donors online.

Cleaning Up Washington’s Act

• Tester’s Cleaning Up Washington’s Act would help “drain the swamp” by closing the revolving door between D.C. lobbyists and Capitol Hill by banning former members of Congress and the Executive Branch from lobbying for five years upon leaving civil service.

In addition to his Sunshine Week initiatives, Tester, who is the founder of the Senate Transparency Caucus, is pushing several other measures to bring more accountability and transparency to campaigns.

Tester is a cosponsor of the For the People Act, a suite of bills aimed at reforming campaign finance and government ethics laws, improving election security, and bolstering voting rights protections, and the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act which would keep foreign actors from participating in American elections, increase transparency for major donors who contribute to electioneering groups, and require disclaimers on political ads, including digital ads, purchased by corporations, unions, and other nonprofit organizations.

Last month, Tester introduced his Spotlight Act to shine a light on dark money political donors and hold the government accountable to enforce our nation’s campaign finance laws by requiring certain tax-exempt organizations that engage in political activity to disclose their donors to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), reversing a Trump-era rule that eliminated the requirement and allowed such organizations to keep their donors secret.

More information on Tester’s work to improve accountability and transparency in government is available HERE.