FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Info:
Robb Korinke
562.912.3483

CALIFORNIA BALLOT MEASURE TO

REVOLUTIONIZE DISCLOSURE OF POLITICAL MONEY
Voters Right to Know Act Introduces Nations Most
Comprehensive Tracking and Disclosure System
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (09/16/15) A Statewide Ballot measure was filed today that will give
Californians the state constitutional right to know the true sources of political spending. The
Voters Right to Know Act, which will appear on the ballot in November 2016, is a first-of-itskind political reform measure that will establish California as the national model for campaign
finance disclosure.
This proposed California constitutional amendment goes a long way toward protecting our
democracy by recognizing a fundamental right -- the right of the public to have responsive and
accountable political leaders, said Ann Ravel former Chair of the California Fair Political
Practices Commission (FPPC). This is an innovative response to the current problems facing the
political system.
Hundreds of millions are spent annually in California lobbying and elections -- much of it
untraceable to the true source. Many millions more are unknown due to uneven reporting and
outmoded systems. Additionally, gifts and the promise of post-government employment are
distractions and potential corrupting influences from the important work done by the
Legislature. The Voters Right to Know Act is a direct response to these issues and advances
substantial reforms to ensure disclosure and transparency.
"The public has the right to know who is spending money to try to sway their ballot box
decisions. If money is speech, voters must know who is speaking to them," Jessica Levinson
Clinical Professor of Law at Loyola Law School.
Voters Right to Know will modernize campaign finance and state lobbying systems to provide
machine readable access to current data, and expand these systems to include local
government data. It will implement consistent, statewide tracking of major donors across
jurisdictions, and trace true funders of political activity from inside and outside the state.
The Voters Right to Know Act is led by a Steering Committee of committed Californians,
including the measures proponent, Jim Heerwagen, adviser to startups and member of several
non-profit boards; Gary Briggs, Chief Marketing Officer at Facebook; David Lawee, Head of
Google Capital; Laura Lauder, venture philanthropist and Partner at Lauder Partners; and Jim
Whims, Partner at Alsop Louie Partners. The Treasurer of the campaign committee is Frederic
Woocher, Partner at Strumwasser & Woocher.
-more-

Principal authors of the measure are Bob Stern, principal co-author of the Political Reform Act
of 1974 and the first General Counsel of the Fair Political Practices Commission, and Gary
Winuk, Chief of the Enforcement Division at the Fair Political Practices Commission from 20092015. Advisory Board members include Dan Schnur, Director, Jesse M. Unruh Institute of
Politics, USC; Daniel Newman, CEO, Maplight; Tony Miller, former Acting California Secretary of
State; and Jared DeMarinis, Director of Candidacy and Campaign Finance for the Maryland
State Board of Elections.
For more information on the Voters Right to Know Act visit www.VotersRighttoKnow.org.
What Others Are Saying About the Voters Right to Know:
"Voters Right to Know Act is the most important state political reform measure since the
Watergate Era, said Dan Schnur, Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the
University of Southern California and former Chair of the California Fair Political Practices
Commission (FPPC). This measure will allow California to send a message to the rest of the
country that we will not tolerate unlimited sums of undisclosed special interest money to
pollute our elections. We can lead the way in shining the necessary light of disclosure on
campaign contributions to make sure that our voters are armed with the information they
deserve before casting their ballots."
"MapLight's research has conclusively shown that knowing which funders are behind a
campaign makes a big difference to voters. Depending on their opinion of the funder, voters
were much more likely to believe--or disbelieve--a particular ad. In other words, this type of
disclosure is key to providing voters with the information they need to evaluate political
messages to make decisions in their own best interests," said Daniel G. Newman, President &
Co-Founder, MapLight.
California Professional Firefighters has always supported more transparency and disclosure in
Californias political process, while we're still in the process of analyzing all of the prospective
ballot measures and thus have no formal position at this time, we applaud the proponents
effort to improve disclosure and make California a leader in giving its voters the right to know,
said Lou Paulson, President, California Professional Firefighters.
The Institute applauds the efforts to significantly advance the disclosure of political spending
in California, said Edwin Bender, Executive Director, National Institute on Money in State
Politics. If the state adopts the entity identification system that is part of this measure,
California will lead the country in ensuring the public has ready access to the complete picture
of the influence exerted by large political spenders.
"A reliable, timely, online, accurate, and convenient system of disclosing and tracking campaign
contributions and expenditures and lobbying spending is the very essence of keeping
corruption out of government. It is shocking that California lacks such a system! Updating the
electronic filing system must certainly be a priority with any new political reform initiative, said
Tony Miller, former Acting California Secretary of State.
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