Shays-Meehan "Reform." This legislation makes war upon the First Amendment’s free speech protections by proposing regulation of non-political, issue advocacy speech. In particular, provisions which greatly expand the definitions of "expressed advocacy" and "coordinated activity" would take in just about every citizen group attempting to educate the electorate on the voting record of their government officials. Representative John Peterson (R-PA) explained that Shays-Meehan represents the "liberal’s idea of reform [which] rests primarily on restricting the free flow of moneys and ideas to the public through any channels except those they control and they regulate…. It will be an incumbent protection bill."
The Shays-Meehan campaign reform bill, H.R. 417, was adopted by the House on September 14, 1999 by a vote of 252-177 (Roll Call 422). We have assigned pluses to the nays.
