Harrisburg, PA − May 9, 2023 – Senator Amanda M. Cappelletti (D-17), Democratic Chair of the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee, put out the following statement after Senate Bill 383 passed out of the Committee today in Harrisburg. The bill, which will ban the use of pre-checked donation boxes that aim to dupe donors into unknowingly committing to repeated donations to political campaigns, passed out of the State Government Committee with a unanimous vote. There was a technical amendment offered by Senator Tony Williams (D-8) and adopted unanimously. Senate Bill 383 bill also has the support of the Shapiro Administration, the Pennsylvania Department of State, ACLU PA, and the Committee of 70.
“I’m proud of the bipartisan effort that led to this piece of campaign finance reform passing out of committee today. I introduced Senate Bill 383 for the first-time last session, after reading reports and hearing from folks in my community about the rise in donors being duped into recurring donations that they had not intended to give to political campaigns. This shameful and unethical practice takes advantage of Pennsylvanians who want to participate in state and local campaigns by providing contributions. Fundraising for campaigns is a tough and often complicated task, but there is no excuse for candidates and campaigns to look for ways to trick donors into giving more than they can.
On both sides of the aisle – we agree this practice needs to end. I hope that this bill continues to move forward, and we can commit to passing more policies that ensure transparency and trust in our campaign finance process.”
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