EAU CLAIRE (WQOW) – State Senator Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) has introduced a new bill that would ask Wisconsinites if they want to see the limit of corporate spending in politics and elections.
The bill, called the “Ready to Amend Act,” would create an advisory referendum. With the referendum, Wisconsinites would vote on whether they want to see a limit on the amount of money donated to political campaigns by corporations. This referendum would not actually make that happen, but rather put pressure on the United States Congress to act.
Smith believes that since the 2010 Supreme Court ruling of Citizen United v. FEC, which stated that donated money is free speech, politics has been dominated by corporate money.
If this referendum makes its way to Wisconsin ballots and passes, Smith hopes it will put pressure on Congress, saying he wants to see Congress create a new constitutional amendment.
“It’s then moved onto Congress, as again proof that the citizens want you to do this,” Smith said. “Because we need a true definition in our constitution of what a citizen’s rights are, what a corporation is, and that money is not speech.”
In order for Smith’s bill to reach Wisconsin ballots, it will need to go through a legislative committee process, and Smith does worry that it will not move forward, because he said, Republicans who control the legislature are not in favor of this bill.
