ABSTRACT
This chapter examines corporate speech rights in the context of ballot measures and social issues. It examines the new legal environment for corporate speech in candidate elections. The chapter explains the regulation of political broadcasting and the unique obligations imposed on corporations operating broadcast stations. It also discusses lobbying. The First Amendment rights of nonmedia corporations were first developed in cases involving ballot propositions and public issues. To the Supreme Court, a ballot proposition is just one of many social and political issues about which corporations might speak. Federal election law permits corporations and unions to form and support political action committees (PACs) that can raise and spend large amounts of campaign money. The PAC is the political arm organized by a corporation, labor union, or trade association to support candidates for elective office. Lobbying the government may be carried out through direct contacts with legislators or through indirect public relations campaigns, sometimes called grassroots lobbying.
