The Issue

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has contributed to an unprecedented influx of money into the election process, raising questions about donor disclosure by 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organizations. A highly politicized issue, Members of Congress and the public have begun to both call for, and question, increased scrutiny of 501(c)(4) organizations that appear to be engaged in partisan political activity. Read more about political activity of 501(c)(4) organizations.

Latest News

On January 3, 2013 on the first day of the 113th Congress, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 148).  

IS Position -- 111th congress (2009-2010)

A version of the DISCLOSE Act was introduced in the 111th Congress (2009-2010).  In June 2010, Independent Sector wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing our deep concern over the "carve out" in the House version of the bill, noting that "we would find it very difficult to support legislation that included provisions that would favor larger, generally more powerful organizations over the critical voices of smaller national, regional, state and local nonprofits.

Background

On June 24, 2010 in the 111th Congress, the House of Representatives passed an earlier version of the DISCLOSE Act, which would have regulated campaign communications paid for by corporations, labor organizations, and nonprofits exempt from taxation under sections 501(c)(4), (c)(5) or (c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code. However, the Senate was unable to pass the DISCLOSE Act before the end of the legislative session.

In the 112th Congress, the DISCLOSE Act was reintroduced in the House (H.R. 4010) by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and in the Senate (S. 2219) by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.  On March 29, 2012, the Senate Rules and Administration committee held a hearing on S. 2219.  Click here to watch the hearing and read the testimony. 

Senator Whitehouse introduced a second version of the bill (S. 3369) on July 10, 2012, which was the version brought to the Senate floor. The Senate voted 51-44 to block consideration of S. 3369 on July 16, 2012.  Click here to view the roll call results.  A second vote was held the following day, which failed by a 53-45 vote.

• H.R. 4010 – "DISCLOSE Act of 2012"
• Introduced by: Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on 2/9/2012, Cosponsors: 165
• Requires that 501(c)(4)s (and corporations, unions, Super PACs, other outside groups) that spend more than $10,000 on campaign-related activity report those expenditures to the FEC within 24 hours
• Requires that 501(c)(4)s (and corporations, unions, Super PACs, other outside groups) disclose campaign-related expenditures to their members in their periodic and annual financial reports and make their political spending available to the public through a hyper-link to the FEC on their website
• Requires that 501(c)(4)s (and corporations, unions, Super PACs, other outside groups) identify donors who contribute $10,000 or more to the organization
• Requires that the leader of an organization and top financial contributors be disclosed in advertisements and include an “I approve this message” disclaimer in campaign ads
• Requires that lobbyists disclose campaign-related expenditures in conjunction with their lobbying activities

• S. 2219 – “DISCLOSE Act of 2012”
• Introduced by: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on 3/21/2012, Cosponsors: 44
• Requires that any group that spends more than $10,000 on campaign-related activity report those expenditures to the FEC within 24 hours
• Requires that groups identify donors who contribute $10,000 or more to the organization
• Requires a listing of the top five financial contributors be disclosed in advertisements and include an “I approve this message” disclaimer in campaign ads
• Requires a statement from the head of the group ratifying that there was no coordination with any campaign, which is illegal