by David Royse
The News Service of Florida
In stark contrast to the way lawmakers tried earlier this year to rein in shadowy electioneering groups in a broad campaign finance bill that was ultimately vetoed, the House quietly passed and sent to Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday a second attempt to put some regulations on 527 organizations.
The electioneering communications organizations, sometimes called 527s for the section of IRS code that deals with them, have torpedoed campaigns with little accountability since a federal court ruling said the old regulations on the groups were unconstitutional in a Broward County case.
A bill passed earlier this session sought to restore some regulations on the groups, in an effort to let voters and candidates know more about who is behind them. But that bill also included a proposal to allow new types of funding organizations similar to leadership funds. Those would allow legislative leaders control of large amounts of cash for legislative races that would be separate from party funds.
The Republican majority trumpeted passage of the bill on both accounts, but Crist vetoed it, citing the leadership funds.
On Thursday the House, with no speeches about the importance of the provisions restoring regulations to 527s, quietly passed an elections bill that had tucked into it new regulations for the electioneering communications organizations. Republican leaders in the Legislature had said they were trying to find a way to restore the ECO-regulating part of the bill separate from the leadership fund language that Crist had objected to.
The bill (HB 131) now headed to Crist, requires ECOs to file paperwork about who is behind them, and reports of contributions and expenditures.
The measure also tries to deal in some ways with the new forms of communicating and how that plays into campaign laws. For example, it deals with the “paid political advertisement” requirements and other requirements of what must be on campaign ads, specifically exempting “ads” on unpaid profiles on a social networking site, for example if it is on someone’s Facebook page, from some requirements, as long as “the source of the message or advertisement is patently clear from the content or format of the message or advertisement.”