S.B. 121 imposes burdensome and impractical requirements on corporations. Under the auspices of shareholder protection, this bill will serve only to stifle speech, and will fail to meaningfully supplement existing shareholder safeguards. Moreover, the bill’s constitutionality is suspect.
S.B. 121 places an exorbitant burden on corporations engaging in political activity. While the government of California has broad discretion to regulate campaign finance and corporate activity within its borders, it cannot pile so many burdens upon corporate political activity as to effectively limit the First Amendment rights of incorporated entities.