Fair and clean elections

Body: House | Journal Page: 10147 
Scored? Yes | Right Vote: N
Author: Falk
Acting on: SF2519  Date: 04/13/2010
Result: Amendment Adopted 108 - 18
(Updated: 07/13/2010 | Copyright © BillsandVotes.com)

As Rep. Falk said by way of introducing his amendment, it dealt with an issue that many legislators "have felt uncomfortable with."  That uncomfortable issue being the January Supreme Court ruling that took the gag out of the mouths of American businesses and allowed them to exercise their right to free speech.  And the uncomfortable legislators being those whose party affiliation is DFL.

The Falk amendment puts the gag back into the mouths of Minnesota public utilities by banning them from using revenues "to promote or defeat a candidate for public office or to advocate approval or defeat of a ballot question."  

It was pointed out during the debate that public utilities are being put at a disadvantage by the Falk amendment, while local boutique energy co-ops and investor-owned private utilities are exempt from the Falk ban.  Rep. Falk, who lists his occupation as "Farmer/renewable energy developer," said he drafted his amendment to apply only to entities regulated by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The BillsandVotes.com Subcommittee on Conflicts of Interest may take this issue up at it's next hearing.

Before the vote, an amendment to the amendment was offered by Rep. Anderson, S. that would tweak the free speech rights of utilities by allowing them to remove their gags long enough to speak about "a ballot question that results, if passed, in the increase of costs or utility rates to ratepayers."  Vote red on the Falk amendment.