Common Cause Indiana is pushing to have the lobbying reform ideas that were included in Senate Bill 267 – dubbed the “paid protester bill” – assigned to one of the General Assembly’s interim study committees for further review.
In a letter sent to the nonprofit’s supporters last week, Common Cause Indiana Executive Director Julia Vaughn said SB 267 was “misguided,” but it did raise “legitimate questions about the need for more transparency about lobbyists and the money they spend” in the legislature. She then called upon the organization’s donors and advocates to contact the members of the Legislative Council and ask them to add the topic of “increasing lobbying transparency” to a study committee.
“This is the perfect issue for an interim study committee to tackle because it’s complicated,” Vaughn wrote in the letter.
Senate Bill 267 required individuals who pay at least $500 to fund an “influence campaign,” which included compensating others to “rally, gather, demonstrate, engage, or confront,” a state legislator, legislature employee or government official, to file an influence campaign report with the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission. The legislation was seen as a response to the unproven narrative that people who protest at the Statehouse – especially those who pushed back hard on redistricting – were not there of their own will but rather were paid to wave signs and chant slogans…