Proposed Legislation

What the bill does

Shareholder approval

Requires shareholder authorization before large corporate political expenditures, plus annual political spending budgets approved by shareholders — no unchecked or last-minute spending.

Foreign influence loopholes closed

Prohibits political spending by corporations with significant foreign ownership or control.

Real-time transparency

Requires rapid public disclosure of major political expenditures, so voters and shareholders know where the money is going.

Worker notification

Workers must be informed when their company engages in substantial political spending.

Enforcement

Creates a Corporate Democracy Office within the SEC to oversee compliance, audits, and enforcement.

What this bill is not

It does not ban corporate political spending, regulate viewpoints, or overturn Citizens United. It works entirely within existing First Amendment doctrine — the only change is that spending decisions require the consent of those whose money is being spent.

Requires all federally administered polling places to provide voters a free, nonpartisan candidate pamphlet before they cast a ballot: each candidate's stated positions, professional background, and fact-checked claims, with no editorial slant.

The problem

Most voters enter the booth without reliable, neutral information about every candidate on their ballot — especially in down-ballot races, where name recognition and party label are often the only signals available. That isn't a failure of voter intelligence; it's a failure of voter infrastructure. Partisan voter guides are biased by design. What's missing is a genuinely neutral summary, standardized across candidates, available at the point of voting, free to every voter.

Core provisions (draft)

Sec. 1 — Mandatory pamphlet distribution

Every federally funded polling location provides a free printed pamphlet covering every race on that county's ballot, in every language the Voting Rights Act requires for the jurisdiction.

Sec. 2 — Neutrality standards

A nonpartisan Editorial Standards Board — appointed jointly by senior federal judges and heads of nonpartisan civic organizations — oversees content: stated positions, professional background, and a fact-check summary. Nothing else.

Sec. 3 — Candidate participation

Candidates submit a standard-form position statement 30 days before the election. Non-submitters are listed as having declined, with no editorial penalty.

Sec. 4 — Accessibility

Digital versions available from any federally maintained voter portal, printable by any voter within 30 days of election day.

Sec. 5 — Funding

$120 million annually in federal grants to states, with higher per-voter allocations for rural counties where printing costs run higher.

Bipartisan by design

The bill improves voter information without restricting any candidate's speech or favoring any viewpoint. Conservatives get democratic accountability through better-informed voters; progressives get equal information access for voters without internet or research time. The neutrality standards are procedural, not substantive — removing the basis for a First Amendment challenge.

The Anti-Capture Corporate Governance Act of 2025