Essay
Pros of Bill HF #117 Authored by Rep. Zach Stephenson and SF #288 Authored by Sen. Erin P. Murphy
Political activities by foreign-influenced corporations prohibited, certification of compliance required, and candidates prohibited from accepting contributions.
- Starting off for House File #117, one of the main pros to this bill is what it adds to the transparency of the elections of our state. By creating a certificate requirement for corporations to prove they are not foreign influenced before contributing to campaigns is a step forward in holding politicians accountable and adding transparency. A bill of this sort is similar to a federal law that prohibits contributions of all kinds from foreign nationals for any sort of governmental election according to the Federal Election Commision. This bill closes a possible loophole around this federal law. It also allows for more election integrity. By making sure elected officials are not influenced by outside sources it makes sure that they are more likely to represent their constituents wants. This bill also offers up penalties and punishments for violations to ensure that the requirements of this bill are followed. This bill is also becoming very common and popular throughout the United States to close this loophole according to an article from MultiState so it only makes sense that Minnesota would follow suit.
- For the cons of House File #117, this bill could be of some administrative burden considering that whenever corporations would make a contribution to a candidate, they would have to fill out a compliance check. In an article from Harvard Business School on how good increasing bureaucracy is for the government, they point to the slow down of processes and the occasional inefficiency of the bureaucratic process. Along with that there could be some complexity to what is considered a “Foreign Influenced Corporation”, leading to legal problem. According to the bill, there is a throughout description of what a foreign influenced corporation but there is still possible room for corporations to get around the way the law is written. This bill will also impact who can donate to campaigns as you are taking out a chunk of the pool of doners, making it so some candidates may not be able to fund their campaigns. Lastly tying into my second point, there may be some issues on how to enforce violations as some corporations may have trouble verifying their status as not “Foreign Influenced”.
Brennan Wallace
Sources
https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/foreign-nationals/#:~:text=Federal%20law%20prohibits%20contributions%2C%20donations,federal%2C%20state%20or%20local%20election.
https://www.multistate.us/insider/2024/4/15/states-and-localities-move-to-block-campaign-finance-contributions-from-foreign-influenced-corporations
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF117&version=1&session=ls93&session_year=2023&session_number=0
https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-much-bureaucracy-is-a-good-thing-in-government-and-business