Wisconsin Becomes First State to Advance Real Safeguards Against Foreign-Linked Online Donations - and no we did not break Capitol rules by taking this picture from the Assembly Gallery - as legislators took the photo and sent it to us after the vote.

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Assembly took a historic step, passing AB 385 by a 55–42 vote, making Wisconsin the first legislative body in the nation to advance model legislation that can actually stop foreign-sourced political contributions disguised within billions of dollars of unverified credit-card and gift-card transactions.

For years, we have documented this issue at www.wisconsinffc.com, including how unverified online contributions created an enormous loophole that allowed foreign funds to blend invisibly into U.S. political donations. This vote marks the first time any governing body has responded with a workable solution that closes the loophole at the banking and payment-processing level, where it must be fixed.