Updated at 2:05 p.m
The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is suing over a new election law set to take effect next year, claiming it would curb free speech for businesses if allowed to take effect.
The organization questioned provisions of a broader election law that prohibit companies with foreign-influenced properties from making political contributions. And the group filed a lawsuit in federal court last week to try to block Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and members of the state’s Public Disclosure and Campaign Finance Board from enforcing the policy.
Under the law, companies will face legal penalties if they make independent expenditures or contribute to election question committees and have foreign ownership thresholds that meet or exceed state limits (1 percent for a single foreign owner or 5 percent for foreign national owners in general).
But that could be difficult to measure at any given time, the group said. And as a result, most Minnesota corporations could avoid making contributions so they don’t run afoul of the law, they said.
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“We strongly believe this law is an unconstitutional violation of the free speech rights of members of Minnesota’s business community,” Chamber President and CEO Doug Loon said in a statement Monday. “We hope to regain their capacity, as ‘persons’ in the eyes of the law, to participate in the democratic process.
Attorneys representing the House also said the law was at odds with federal election law and should be enjoined from superseding or preempting those policies.
DFL lawmakers on Capitol Hill passed what they called the “Democracy for the People Act” this year as part of a broader effort to expand voting access and increase transparency in elections. They said the law would limit out-of-state influence in Minnesota politics.
And after news of the legal challenge, they said the move was predictable.
“This is a pretty maximalist reading, it goes way beyond Citizens United,” said Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, an election attorney who wrote the policy. “They’re trying to expand First Amendment protections now beyond domestic corporations to any corporate spending, even if it’s foreign-influenced, and that would be a change in the law. And there’s going to be a big step back from where Citizens United and the Court have been.”
Greenman said he’s confident the Minnesota law will hold up in court.
The Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board had no comment on the lawsuit Monday and said the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office would handle defending the law in court.
Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement that his office had not yet reviewed the complaint, but said he would “review it and vigorously defend Minnesota law that advances transparency and accountability in elections.”
