Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Federal Judge Says Senate Work Is Wrong

from State Sen. Mike Ross

A federal judge has invalidated parts of Initiated Act 1, which was approved by voters last year and which limits the amounts of campaign contributions.

The judge overturned sections of the act that limited how much indivduals and political action committees may contribute to candidates for statewide elected office.

The effect of the ruling is to maintain the previous limit of $1,000 per donation to candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, land commissioner, secretary of state, state auditor, treasurer and attorney general. Initiated Act 1, as approved by voters, would have set limits of $300 or donations to candidates for those statewide offices, but those limits were ruled unconstitutional. The judge did uphold limits in Initiated Act 1 of $100 for donations to candidates for the legislature.

Another result of the judge's decision is that the $1,000 contribution limit will apply to races for the state Supreme Court and the state Court of Appeals.

Other important provisions of Inititated Act 1 were upheld, such as the requirement that candidates report the names of everyone who contributes more than $50 to their campaigns. The previous threshold for disclosing the names of contributors had been $100.

The sections of Initiated Act 1 creating a new type of political action committee, called "small donor political action committees," were upheld. Small donor committees may not accept more than $25 from any individual. They may contribute up to $2,500 to candidates.

Small donor committees are legally different from political action committees, or PAC's. The federal judge upheld a 1991 law limiting donations to PAC's to $200 per year.

Initiated Act 1 also requires greater disclosure of the identities of independent expenditure committees, which often pay for political commercials in support of certain candidates, but are not directly connected to that candidate. The act requires the disclosure of the name, addresses and occupations of people who make independent expenditures if they spend more than $500.

If the independent expenditures are made by a committee, the committee must report the names and occupations of its officers and its address. The provision is intended to open to public scrutiny the sources of money used to pay for political advertisements that can have a great influence on elections.

The sections requireing disclosure of the sources of independent expenditures remain intact. Also intact are provisions in the new act that provide tax credits of up to $50 a person for taxpayers who contribute to candidates, small door political action committees and organized political parties.

Act One requires political parties to report the names of people who contribute more than $250 in a year to the party. The reports are to be made to the Secretary of State by January 15 of each year.

The lawsuit challenging certain sections of Act 1 was filed by a political action committee affiliated with the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of arkansas.

A second legal challenge to Initiated Act 1 has been filed in the federal court for the Western District of Arkansas. A ruling has not been made yet in the second case.

Voters approved the act in the November 1996 general election by a margin of almost two to one. About 487,000 people voted for the measure and about 244,000 voted against it. The measure was place on the ballot by groups trying to limit the influence of money on elections.