Pawlenty signs law on corporate campaign money

Legislation designed to give voters more information about which corporations are trying to influence Minnesota elections is now law.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the bill Thursday after lawmakers unanimously sent it to him last week. The bill was prompted by recent court rulings that gave corporations greater power to use money from their treasuries on politics.

The law requires groups that inject themselves into campaigns to detail their donors and spending at least four times ahead of this year's elections.

The requirement pertains to so-called independent expenditures, which is spending on mailings, billboards and broadcast ads to advocate the election or defeat of a candidate without any campaign's consent or coordination.

Corporations are still prohibited from giving directly to candidates or political parties in Minnesota.

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