December 9, 2010 •
Missouri Bank Fights New Ethics Law
Legends Bank is seeking to block enforcement of Missouri’s new ethics law, found in Senate Bill 844, which took effect August 28. Legends Bank and its president filed suit Monday in Cole County Circuit Court citing language that limits the bank’s right to make political donations. Senate Bill 844 sought to limit politicians’ ability to conceal the source of money by moving it through several political action committees.
Legends Bank claims that in determining which individuals and entities can donate to political action committees, lawmakers appear to have limited the ability of state-chartered banks to donate. Republican Senate president pro-tem Charlie Shields, who sponsored Senate Bill 844, stated to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the goal of the bill was never to stop banks or corporations from making political donations and that the disputed language should be fairly easy to fix.
Photo of the Missouri Capitol by RebelAt of English Wikipedia.
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