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The Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act, or DISCLOSE Act, is a federal campaign finance reform bill that has been introduced in the United States Congress since 2010. The disclosure The bill would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for greater and faster public disclosure of campaign spending and to combat the use of so called "dark money" in U.S. elections.

The DISCLOSE Act would:

• Compel organizations that spend money on elections, such as super PACs and 501(c)(4) dark money groups, to immediately report contributors who have donated $10,000 or more in a given election cycle;
• Impose stricter regulations on the use of shell corporations to conceal donors' identities; and
• The "stand by your ad" disclosure rules should be expanded to require groups to disclose the sources of funding for political ads, including the top five funders at the conclusion of television commercials.

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The DISCLOSE Act passed the House of Representatives in June 2010 on a 219–206 vote, but was defeated in the Senate by a successful Republican filibuster; after cloture motions in July 2010 and September 2010 resulted in 57–41 and 59–39 votes, respectively, failing to obtain the necessary 60 votes to advance. Senate and House Democrats, such as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, have re-introduced variants of the DISCLOSE Act to each succeeding Congress since 2010. An unsuccessful 2014 version of the bill was sponsored by 50 Senate Democrats. In 2019, the DISCLOSE Act requirements were incorporated into the broader For the People Act (H.R. 1), which passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on a party-line 234–193 vote, but did not advance in the then Republican-controlled Senate.

Background and Provisions

In 2010, the Supreme Court issued a 5–4 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, ruling that 2 U.S.C. 441a, which prohibited corporations and unions from making independent expenditures in political campaigns, was unconstitutional. The decision overturned an earlier decision, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990). In response, Democrats in Congress introduced the DISCLOSE Act to establish new disclosure and other requirements for campaign-related spending. Democrats sought to enhance transparency requirements because the Citizens United decision, while striking down some federal campaign finance laws, upheld the existing federal disclosure requirements and indicated that Congress and states could constitutionally require further disclosures, stating that "Transparency enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages."

The bill would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for greater and faster public disclosure of campaign spending and to combat the use of "dark money" in U.S. elections (which increased from $69 million in 2008 to $310 million in 2012). The 2023 version of the DISCLOSE Act bill:

• This bill addresses campaign finance, including by expanding the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requiring additional disclosures of campaign expenditures, and requiring additional disclosures regarding certain political advertisements.
• Specifically, the bill expands existing foreign money prohibitions to include disbursements for paid web-based or digital communications and federal judicial nomination communications. It also prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns related to ballot initiatives and referenda.
• The Government Accountability Office must, for each four-year election cycle, study and report on the incidence of illicit foreign money in federal elections.
• Next, the bill makes it unlawful to establish or use a corporation, company, or other entity with the intent to conceal an election contribution or donation by a foreign national. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both.
• Covered organizations (e.g., corporations, labor organizations, and political organizations) must, within 24 hours, file reports with the Federal Election Commission to disclose campaign expenditures of more than $10,000 during an election cycle.
• The bill also requires organizations to provide additional disclosures regarding political advertisements, including the donors who contributed the most money to that organization in the last year.

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Legislative History

The chief sponsors of the 2010 bill were Representative Chris Van Hollen, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Senator Charles Schumer, a former chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The bill attracted almost no support from Republicans; among the 114 co-sponsors of the 2010 House version of the legislation, only two (Mike Castle of Delaware and Walter B. Jones Jr. of North Carolina) were Republicans.

The DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 5175) passed the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2010 on a 219–206 vote, but was defeated in the Senate following a successful Republican filibuster; after cloture motions in July 2010 and September 2010 resulted in 57–41 and 59–39 votes, respectively, failing to obtain the necessary 60 votes to advance. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and other Senate and House Democrats, have re-introduced variants of the DISCLOSE Act to each succeeding Congress since 2010. In July 2012, the Senate again debated the DISCLOSE Act, but a motion to invoke cloture was defeated on a 53–45 vote. The Senate Rules Committee held one hearing on the bill in the 113th Congress (2013-2014), and no significant legislative activity took place in the next two Congresses. The unsuccessful 2014 version of the bill was sponsored by 50 Senate Democrats.

In 2019, the DISCLOSE Act requirements were incorporated into the broader For the People Act (H.R. 1), which passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on a party-line 234–193 vote and has not advanced in the Republican-controlled Senate. (Add Updates to this section.)

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