Washington State State passes DISCLOSE Act to expose dark money in politics — at last!

Wash­ing­ton State’s new­ly mint­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­ate major­i­ty notched its first sig­na­ture leg­isla­tive win tonight, bring­ing Andy Bil­lig’s DISCLOSE Act to the floor for a vote and eas­i­ly pass­ing the leg­is­la­tion with the sup­port of sev­er­al Republicans.

The DISCLOSE Act (SSB 5991) is the first bill to be res­cued from the Sen­ate Repub­li­cans’ grave­yard of progress. It aims to bol­ster trans­paren­cy, so that Wash­ing­ton vot­ers have a bet­ter idea of who is try­ing to influ­ence their vote.

Sen­ate Repub­li­cans have for years blocked this noble bill from being dis­cussed and vot­ed on. Tonight — at last! — it received a floor debate in the Sen­ate. And when the time came for sen­a­tors to decide its fate, it was able to pass eas­i­ly with sup­port from both sides of the aisle. This is great news for the State of Washington.

“The bipar­ti­san Sen­ate vote tonight on the DISCLOSE Act takes us one step clos­er to shin­ing a light on dark mon­ey in Wash­ing­ton state elec­tions,” said Bil­lig (D‑6th Dis­trict: Spokane). “Cam­paign trans­paren­cy increas­es account­abil­i­ty, reduces the oppor­tu­ni­ty for cor­rup­tion and strength­ens our democracy.

“The dis­clo­sure loop­hole that this bill will fix is being exploit­ed by groups across the polit­i­cal spec­trum. Ulti­mate­ly, this bill ben­e­fits not one par­ty or anoth­er but the cit­i­zens of our state,” Bil­lig added in his state­ment on the bil­l’s pas­sage. “Most impor­tant­ly, trans­paren­cy of the source of mon­ey in elec­tions cre­ates more informed vot­ers, which ulti­mate­ly results in a health­i­er democracy.”

All twen­ty-five Demo­c­ra­t­ic Sen­a­tors vot­ed to pass SSB 5991. They were joined by sev­en Repub­li­cans: Michael Baum­gart­ner (yes, real­ly!), Joe Fain, Brad Hawkins, Mark Milos­cia, Mau­reen Walsh, Judy War­nick, and Hans Zeiger.

The roll call vote on final pas­sage was as follows:

SSB 5991
Cam­paign finance disclosures
Sen­ate vote on 3rd Read­ing & Final Passage
1/17/2018

Yeas: 32; Nays: 17

Vot­ing Yea: Sen­a­tor Baum­gart­ner, Bil­lig, Car­lyle, Chase, Cleve­land, Con­way, Darneille, Dhin­gra, Fain, Frockt, Hasegawa, Hawkins, Hobbs, Hunt, Keis­er, Kud­er­er, Liias, McCoy, Milos­cia, Mul­let, Nel­son, Palum­bo, Ped­er­sen, Ranker, Rolfes, Sal­daña, Takko, Van De Wege, Walsh, War­nick, Well­man, Zeiger

Vot­ing Nay: Sen­a­tor Angel, Bai­ley, Beck­er, Braun, Brown, Erick­sen, For­tu­na­to, Hon­ey­ford, King, O’Ban, Pad­den, Rivers, Schoesler, Shel­don, Short, Wag­oner, Wilson

Tonight’s pas­sage of SSB 5991 was made pos­si­ble by the vic­to­ry of Demo­c­ra­t­ic State Sen­a­tor Man­ka Dhin­gra, whose win in the 45th Dis­trict last year shift­ed the bal­ance of pow­er in the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate. Now that Democ­rats run the cham­ber, good bills can get hear­ings and do pass rec­om­men­da­tions in com­mit­tee, Gov­er­nor Inslee’s nom­i­nees can receive the con­sid­er­a­tion they deserve, and long-over­due ideas like the DISCLOSE Act can make it to the Sen­ate floor.

NPI con­grat­u­lates the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate on tak­ing a big step towards greater trans­paren­cy and account­abil­i­ty of mon­ey in pol­i­tics. This is a big deal.