Legislation will be introduced following complaints from Americans who were repeatedly charged for donations unwittingly authorized

May 25, 2021 - WASHINGTON – On Monday, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee with oversight over federal elections and campaign finance law, and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will introduce legislation to ban political campaigns from using pre-checked recurring donation boxes. The legislation follows the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) unanimous, bipartisan vote recommending that Congress ban political campaigns from automatically opting donors into recurring contributions through pre-checked boxes.

“As we work to reform our campaign finance system, we must ensure that people are empowered to make their voices heard — but that will only happen if Americans trust that campaigns aren’t taking advantage of them through tactics like pre-checked recurring donation boxes,” said Klobuchar. “Following the FEC’s unanimous vote, it’s clear we should take action to ban this practice and ensure contributors are fully informed. This legislation will do just that.”  

“In a bipartisan recommendation, the Federal Election Commission urged Congress to take action to stop donation practices — egregiously employed by the Trump campaign — that tricked contributors into recurring payments. I’m proud to introduce this bill with Sen. Klobuchar to prevent future campaigns of any political party from engaging in these deceptive practices by banning the use of convoluted, pre-checked boxes to trigger recurring contributions,” said Durbin.  

This legislation would create a new opt-in requirement for contributors to affirmatively consent to recurring charges. It would also require political committees or campaigns to inform contributors about how to cancel recurring contributions and to cancel recurring contributions immediately upon request. The legislation is also cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). 
Source: Senator Amy Klobuchar