skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

OR Lawmakers Send Campaign Contribution Cap to Voters

play audio
Play

Wednesday, July 3, 2019   

SALEM, Ore. - Oregon voters will have a chance to weigh in on the role of money in politics next year.

Among the flurry of legislation passed at the end of this year's session is a resolution to put a constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot allowing the state to cap campaign contributions. Oregon is one of five states that have no limits for how much money corporations or individuals can contribute to a political candidate.

Attorney Jason Kafoury, a volunteer organizer for Honest Elections Oregon, said the legislation is historic, noting that Oregon legislative races are the second-most expensive in the nation.

"Putting good limits in place and disclosing who's giving the big money on the independent expenditures will give us a much healthier democracy," he said, "and, I hope, lead to citizens having more of a voice and not just big-corporate and big-money interests."

Another measure that would have specified donation limits failed this session. Advocates for changes to campaign contributions said the limit was too high and there were too many loopholes in the bill.

After Republicans walked out last month over cap-and-trade legislation, Oregonian reporter Rob Davis calculated contributions back to 2009 from companies that would have been affected by the bill. He found that Senate Republicans received more than $117,000, while Senate Democrats received a little more than $43,000 - nearly a three-to-one ratio. Kafoury believes that's the real reason senators walked out, and what pushed legislators to pass this bill.

"The Republicans left twice - once for a tax increase, and once to try to kill this climate bill," he said. "Republicans weren't leaving the state because of moral issues, like abortion or guns. They were leaving because these issues hit right at their big donors' interests."

Republican senators have denied this, saying Democrats are just trying to spin their failure to pass cap-and-trade legislation. They have said the walkout was necessary to defend the economic interests of their rural constituents. The contribution-cap resolution also had support from a handful of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate.

The text of SJR 18 is online at olis.leg.state.or.us.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021