{"id":967705,"date":"2021-11-04T13:29:28","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T17:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=967705"},"modified":"2021-11-04T13:29:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T17:29:32","slug":"proposed-legislation-would-ban-foreign-intervention-in-local-ballot-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/proposed-legislation-would-ban-foreign-intervention-in-local-ballot-initiatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Legislation Would Ban Foreign Intervention In Local Ballot Initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fproposed-legislation-would-ban-foreign-intervention-in-local-ballot-initiatives%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=967705&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) authored legislation Wednesday that would prohibit foreign nationals from donating to local referenda and ballot initiatives, just months after federal regulators said the practice was permissible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Stop Foreign Interference in Ballot Measures Act, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/gillibrand-foreign-donor-loophole-eeff9467-3e59-47db-9a7d-a19cb018f3cf.html\">reported<\/a> by Axios, \u201cwould amend the prohibition on foreign national donations to U.S. political campaigns to include state and local ballot initiatives.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cGillibrand\u2019s bill would close what good government advocates call a glaring loophole in federal election laws allowing foreign nationals to bankroll efforts to reshape state and local laws,\u201d the outlet added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The bill, which is only two pages, amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971\u2019s definition of election to include state or local ballot initiatives. Under the current law, which excluded such referenda, the Federal Election Commission ruled over the summer that bans on donations to domestic political campaigns did not apply to ballot committees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FEC\u2019s ruling that foreign donors can fund U.S. ballot measure campaigns is chilling,\u201d Gillibrand said. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t have a say in our laws. I\u2019m joining @RepKatiePorter to introduce a bill to close this loophole and stop foreign donors from influencing our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that he plans to introduce his own legislation closing the loophole. \u201cForeign nationals should not be able to engage in America\u2019s democratic process,\u201d said the Florida Republican. \u201cWe must do everything we can to protect the votes of American citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is illegal for foreign nationals to donate to political candidates, parties, and committees,\u201d said Rubio in a statement Wednesday. \u201cI will soon introduce legislation to extend that commonsense protection of our political process to ballot initiatives and other referendums.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The proposed legislation comes on the heels of an Axios report detailing a ruling by the FEC which allowed foreign nationals to contribute to ballot initiatives. As The Daily Wire previously reported:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The decision came on the heels of a controversial case in Montana over hard rock mining in 2018. During a citizen-generated effort to ban the process, proponents of the initiative argued that a Canadian company shouldn\u2019t have been allowed to give money to opponents of the measure. The Canadian company was a subsidiary of Sandfire Resources, an Australian firm.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n<p><em>In the 4-2 decision, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) \u201cdismisses the allegations that Sandfire and Sandfire NL violated\u201d U.S. law \u201cby making prohibited foreign national donations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>While the Commission noted that foreign funding had been given to the opposition to the hard<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) authored legislation Wednesday that would prohibit foreign nationals from donating to local referenda and ballot initiatives, just months after federal regulators said the practice was permissible.\u00a0The Stop Foreign Interference in Ballot Measures Act, as reported by Axios, \u201cwould amend the prohibition on foreign national donations to U.S. political campaigns to include state and local ballot initiatives.\u201d \u201cGillibrand\u2019s bill would close what good government advocates call a glaring loophole in federal election laws allowing foreign nationals to bankroll efforts to reshape state and local laws,\u201d the outlet added.\u00a0The bill, which is only two pages, amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971\u2019s definition of election to include state or local ballot initiatives. Under the current law, which excluded such referenda, the Federal Election Commission ruled over the summer that bans on donations to domestic political campaigns did not apply to ballot committees.\u00a0\u201cThe FEC\u2019s ruling that foreign donors can fund U.S. ballot measure campaigns is chilling,\u201d Gillibrand said. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t have a say in our laws. I\u2019m joining @RepKatiePorter to introduce a bill to close this loophole and stop foreign donors from influencing our democracy.\u201d\u00a0Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that he plans to introduce his own legislation closing the loophole. \u201cForeign nationals should not be able to engage in America\u2019s democratic process,\u201d said the Florida Republican. \u201cWe must do everything we can to protect the votes of American citizens.\u201d\u201cIt is illegal for foreign nationals to donate to political candidates, parties, and committees,\u201d said Rubio in a statement Wednesday. \u201cI will soon introduce legislation to extend that commonsense protection of our political process to ballot initiatives and other referendums.\u201dThe proposed legislation comes on the heels of an Axios report detailing a ruling by the FEC which allowed foreign nationals to contribute to ballot initiatives. As The Daily Wire previously reported:\u00a0The decision came on the heels of a controversial case in Montana over hard rock mining in 2018. During a citizen-generated effort to ban the process, proponents of the initiative argued that a Canadian company shouldn\u2019t have been allowed to give money to opponents of the measure. The Canadian company was a subsidiary of Sandfire Resources, an Australian firm.\u00a0\u2026In the 4-2 decision, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) \u201cdismisses the allegations that Sandfire and Sandfire NL violated\u201d U.S. law \u201cby making prohibited foreign national donations.\u201dWhile the Commission noted that foreign funding had been given to the opposition to the hard rock mining ban, it said that the ballot measure was not an election.\u00a0\u201cUnder these circumstances and consistent with the relevant court and agency precedents construing the foreign national prohibition, the Commission declines to further pursue this matter,\u201d the Commission explained.\u00a0The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-967705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}