Campaign Finance Reform

Helpful Links

Updated 3/07/08

Note: Many of the links below are for advocacy organizations. NCSL makes no endorsement of the organizations or their goals. This list is provided for informational purposes only.

The Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law unites thinkers and advocates in pursuit of a vision of inclusive and effective democracy. Their mission is to develop and implement an innovative, nonpartisan agenda of scholarship, public education, and legal action that promotes equality and human dignity, while safeguarding fundamental freedoms. The focus is on both state and federal campaign finance law. The site offers:

an index of litigation
analyses and op-eds
a collection of publications which may be downloaded for free

The Brookings Institution is an independent, nonpartisan organization devoted to research, analysis, education, and publication focused on public policy issues in the areas of economics, foreign policy, and governance. The focus is on federal campaign finance law. The site offers:

publications for sale
analysis of and links to court decisions
analysis and commentary on relevant issues

The Campaign Disclosure Project is designed to bring greater transparency and accountability to the role of money in state and federal campaigns. The project is currently working toward three goals: (1) Classify and evaluate the campaign disclosure laws of the 50 states. (2) Design and promote a set of uniform standards and model laws for state reporting and disclosure practices, based upon the findings of the evaluation above. (3) Encourage the adoption of these standards by grading the states according to their disclosure laws and practices and by promoting the findings through publications, conferences and web sites. The site focuses exclusively on state law. The site offers:

links to state disclosure agencies
a collection of news stories about campaign disclosure
links to related studies and resources

The Campaign Finance Information Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping journalists follow the campaign money trail on the national, state and local levels. The focus is on state, local and federal campaign finance data. The site offers:

fee-based databases that track campaign contributions and federal contracts
links to free information sources for state campaign contribution and spending data
a collection of campaign finance media stories
tips from reporters on how to cover campaign finance reform

The Campaign Finance Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit institute that conducts objective research and education, empanels task forces and makes recommendations for policy change in the field of campaign finance. The focus is on federal campaign finance law. The site offers:

an e-guide to the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act and its associated regulations
an e-guide to McConnell v. FEC
a searchable database of current campaign finance research
reports by the institute's task forces on disclosure and financing presidential nominations

The Campaign Legal Center is a non-profit organization created to act as the "people's voice" in administrative hearings and proceedings on campaign finance and media laws. The site focuses on federal law. The site offers:

an enormous volume of information about BCRA, the new federal campaign finance law, including the regulations associated with the law and many documents associated with the court challenge
links to other campaign finance reform court cases
analysis of congressional legislation on campaign finance reform
weekly reports on federal campaign finance reform
links to news articles
links to a set of key reference documents

The Cato Institute is a non-profit public policy research foundation that seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace. The institute opposes attempts to limit campaign spending. The site focuses on federal campaign finance law, with some information on state law. The site offers:

research, analysis, and commentary on a wide array of campaign finance issues

The Center for Governmental Studies is a non-profit, non-partisan public charity which studies and helps implement innovative approaches to improving social problems and the processes of self-government. The site offers:

a collection of recent publications
links to other organizations

The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group that tracks money in politics, and its effect on elections and public policy. The site focuses on federal campaigns. The site offers:

analysis of how current news issues relate to campaign finance (for example, the Enron scandal)
a summary of contribution limits under the new federal law
detailed state-by-state summaries of campaign fundraising by PACs, federal candidates and political parties in 2000 and 2002
summaries and profiles of campaign fundraising data for individual members of Congress, members of particular Congressional committees, Congressional races, and national political party committees
summaries and profiles of campaign fundraising data for the president and administration

Common Cause is a non-profit, non-partisan citizens' lobbying organization promoting open, honest and accountable government. The site focuses on both state and federal campaign finance law. The site offers:

analysis of court rulings
a database of soft money contributions to the national political parties
summaries of various provisions of state campaign finance laws, including disclosure, contribution limits and public financing
links to U.S. Supreme Court rulings
links to other advocacy organizations
links to all state chapters, whose sites often include detailed information about campaign finance reform in their state

The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces the laws governing the financing of federal elections. Its duties are to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections. The site includes information mainly on federal campaign finance law, with mostly outdated information on state law. The site offers:

campaign finance reports and data from federal campaigns
information and forms for filing campaign disclosure reports
a collection of legal documents, including the text of all federal laws governing the financing of campaigns, regulations, advisory opinions, and interpretations
a collection of publications, including various guides to the law, court case abstracts, a monthly newsletter, and brochures
a collection of charts offering detailed summaries of state campaign finance laws (the charts were published in 2000 and represent information from 1999)

The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is a public policy research institution. Their web site on campaign finance reform includes:

an overview of the history of the financing of campaigns and reform efforts
an overview of state campaign finance laws with a link to a 1998 publication summarizing state campaign finance laws
articles and opinion pieces about federal campaign finance law
links to U.S. Supreme Court cases
summaries and articles about various campaign finance reform proposals
links to reform legislation from the 105^th, 106^th, and 107^th Congresses
articles, summaries, and links to information about "who's giving to whom"

The Justice at Stake Campaign is a nationwide, nonpartisan partnership of more than thirty judicial, legal and citizen organizations. They seek to educate the public about the growing impact of money and politics on fair and impartial courts. The site focuses on the financing of state judicial campaigns. The site includes:

information on state supreme court elections
a study of the role of money in judicial politics (based on the 2000 state supreme court elections)
a round-up of judicial campaign finance reform efforts in the states
polls of state judges and voters on the issue of judicial elections
state-by-state information on the selection method and terms of state judges (incomplete as of May 2003)

The National Institute on Money in State Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit program dedicated to accurate, comprehensive and unbiased documentation and research on campaign finance at the state level. The site includes only state-level campaign finance data. The site offers:

a detailed database of campaign finance contribution data from many (but not all) states
summaries and analysis of trends in campaign contributions and role of contributions in influencing key issues in the news
state-by-state analysis of major campaign donors and recipients (all pre-2000)
summaries of state campaign finance laws (generally based on 1998 or previous law)

The National Voting Rights Institute: Through litigation and public education, the Institute aims to redefine the issue of private money in public elections as the nation's newest voting rights barrier, and to vindicate the constitutional right of all citizens, regardless of their economic status, to participate in the electoral process on an equal and meaningful basis. The site focuses on both state and federal campaign finance reform. The site includes:

links to and analysis of the various state and federal campaign finance court cases the institute has been involved in
links to other advocacy organizations, academic and research institutions, and government agencies
a bibliography of suggested readings

Political Money Line compiles disclosure data from the Federal Election Commission and makes it available on an independent web site. The site focuses only on federal races. The site offers:

a free, easy-to-use database of campaign contribution and spending data for federal candidates, committees, and parties
additional services for subscribers

Public Agenda is a non-partisan, non-profit public opinion research and citizen education organization. Their mission is to help leaders better understand the public's point of view on major policy issues and to help citizens better understand critical policy issues so they can make their own more informed and thoughtful decisions. While the site focuses on federal campaigns, it offers a wide array of data and discussion of basic philosophies that are relevant to state campaigns as well. The site offers:

an overview of the issue
a digest of recent news stories
numerous facts and trends presented in graphs and charts
a "framing the debate" section which features three different perspectives on campaign finance reform
detailed results of public opinion surveys on campaign finance reform and related issues
a lengthy set of links to organizations, studies, news outlets, and public opinion organizations

Public Campaign is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to sweeping reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of special interest money in America's elections and the influence of big contributors in American politics. They are the primary national advocacy group for so-called "Clean Elections" public campaign financing. The site focuses on state campaign finance reform. The site offers:

profiles of the four states with "Clean Elections" laws
a study of the relationship between campaign contributions and race
a model law for "Clean Elections" public financing
state news and contacts

For More Information

For more information on campaign finance reform, contact Jennie Drage Bowser.