April 25, 2019—Voters’ Right to Know today announces its endorsement of two new bills under consideration by the California Legislature that would be major steps forward in bringing greater transparency to the sources of political spending in the state.
AB 1217, the Issue Ad DISCLOSE Act, sponsored by Kevin Mullin, would require that lobbying issue ads—that is, ads attempting to influence the outcome of legislation and administrative actions—display their top 3 sources of funding. In addition to shining a light on the interests seeking to influence California’s legislative process, AB 1217 will effectively end the ability of interest groups to evade disclosure requirements by using “sham” issue ads, or ads that are designed to sway voter opinion about a candidate but are not currently required to disclose their sources of funding because they do not expressly advocate.
