2010 Legislative Wrap-Up

A Rough Ride... But One With Gains

It was a short, rough ride this year, but we still managed to make some important gains in the 2010 General Assembly session, despite the recession and budget crisis. Democracy North Carolina, with your help, worked hard to expand opportunities for public campaign financing. And we pushed in several other ways to make government more open and accountable, as well as challenge the corrosive power of wealthy special interests.

Here’s a wrap-up of the 2010 legislative session:

VOTER-OWNED ELECTIONS: Thanks to thousands of calls, emails and visits from supporters like you, Senate Democratic leaders finally decided to include expansion of public campaign financing in the ethics legislation at the last minute. But the hasty timing, ambitious scope of the proposal, and anxiety of Democratic Senators in swing districts – along with the hostile reaction from Republicans and a smear campaign led by Charlotte’s Pat McCrory – doomed the proposal. (The proposal included a $5 fee increase on several types of businesses regulated by Council of State agencies, not the big tax increase opponents scared people with.) Unfortunately, we were unable to regain momentum in the short time left in the session to advance local or state public campaign financing; however, we have many allies in the General Assembly, and a special 10-member commission was created to study expansion of the Voter-Owned Elections program for Council of State offices and make recommendations in early 2011. So look for new legislation to expand VOE next year!
NEW DISCLOSURE OF BIG MONEY: The US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision gave corporations, certain nonprofits and unions new ways to influence elections through advocacy advertising and other spending that is “independent” of direct contributions to candidates. Legislation to make North Carolina laws match this new rule included several provisions that would have weakened public disclosure of who spends how much when to influence what election. Democracy North Carolina intervened and, with our allies, successfully pushed for changes in the legislation (H-748) that will now provide even more information than the previous law required. The John Locke Foundation and Americans for Prosperity, who fought public financing, also fought these changes but lost.
ENFORCEMENT & RESTRICTIONS: Money laundering involving more than $10,000 is now a felony offense; this happens most often when a donor uses other people or business money to funnel large donations into a candidate’s campaign. We’ve been trying to change this crime from a misdemeanor to a felony for years. Thanks to all the attention on Rusty Carter, which we helped spur, the governor and legislative leaders agreed. Also: New restrictions on gifts to state officials were added, the crime of exchanging contributions for contracts is clarified, and state employees are barred from lobbying the agency they left for at least six months.
OTHER IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: The Ethics Reform bill (H-961) includes many other good features we promoted with our allies. For example, (1) the State Board of Elections is required to create a searchable database on the Internet of contributions to statewide, judicial and legislative candidates, parties and PACs; (2) political appointees must report campaign donations over $1,000 that they make in the previous year to the official making the appointment; (3) a new NC OpenBook website will provide details about all grants and contracts over $10,000 awarded by state agencies; (4) more information about state employees’ personnel status, disciplinary action, etc., is now public; (5) a mediation process is established for seeking public records and people can win attorney fees if their request is improperly blocked; and (6) lobbyists must report more information about their income and activities.

That’s a lot for just two months! Yes, there were disappointments -- but there were also important victories.

Thanks to each of you who took action this year in support of our goals. Your calls about these issues, and your crucial financial support, are what make it possible to make advances, endure setbacks, and keep pushing ahead.

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