A state Senate committee approved three bills Tuesday, aiming to reform campaign finance and ethics in the state Capitol.
The Committee on Campaign Finance Reform, Rural Issues and Information Technology passed Senate Bill 77, SB 171, and SB 170.
State Sen. Pat Kreitlow, D- Chippewa, authored SB 171, which proposes public funding for state Supreme Court Justice campaigns to keep the campaign process fair.
""The issue of campaign finance reform has been ignored by past legislatures, and today we finally take the first real step toward putting elections back in the hands of the public,"" committee chair Kreitlow said in a statement. ""I'm proud to be moving this legislation forward.""
The Issue Ad Disclosure bill, SB 77, calls for stricter regulation of campaign advertising concerning the involvement of special interest groups in funding.
This would require groups to fully disclose who funds their ads, a law Wisconsin Right to Life Legislative Director Susan Armacost said they did not support. They said the information given in their ads is truthful and objective. Armacost said in a statement that this would make the private information about their members known.
Still, state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said this would level ""the playing field so shadowy groups seeking to influence elections have to play by the same rules as everyone else.""
SB 170 would give notice to parties in civil actions of the Supreme Court ruling regarding access to economic interests and recusal.
