JURIST - Paper Chase: Connecticut legislature passes tough campaign finance bill

[JURIST] The Connecticut General Assembly [official website] passed a tough new campaign finance law [PDF text] Thursday that strictly limits campaign contributions for all state offices and creates a public campaign finance system. Once enacted, the bill will ban political contributions from lobbyists, their spouses, and state contractors, limit contributions of political action committees, and close a loophole that previously allowed unregulated corporate donations. The Connecticut State Senate overwhelmingly passed the legislation Wednesday, by a margin of 27-8, and the House passed the legislation Thursday morning with a margin of 82-65. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell [official website] has promised to sign the legislation into law [press release], which Rell says will make the state a "national model for reform." The campaign finance bill comes in the wake of the corruption scandal surrounding former governor John G. Rowland [archived official website; JURIST news archive], who in March was sentenced to one year in prison violating federal corruption laws [JURIST report]. The Hartford Courant has local coverage; AP has more.

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