U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today announced that she helped introduce a new bill to prevent special interest groups and wealthy out-of-state donors from anonymously funding political campaigns.
Heitkamp joined U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and other senators to introduce the Spotlight Act, which would reverse a recent decision by the U.S. Treasury Department to allow non-profit organizations that engage in political activity to avoid disclosing certain donor information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on their tax returns. The bill would also require special interest organizations to disclose the names of donors to the public, not just the IRS.
“North Dakotans are tired of political ads funded by shadowy groups and individuals from outside our state that exploit loopholes to avoid exposing their donors,” Heitkamp said. “At a minimum, North Dakotans deserve to know who’s paying to try to influence their votes, and our bill would increase transparency so voters know who’s behind these ads. The Treasury Secretary should not be able to unilaterally decide which groups and donors can hide in anonymity from the voters of North Dakota while flooding their airwaves and mailboxes, telling them what they should think or how they should vote. Voters should know who – and be able to decide why – these folks are so interested in coming into our state.”