Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold (D) tweeted today that he and Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have already collected 23,000 citizen co-sponsors for the DISCLOSE Act, which is intended to rein in the influence of special interest money in federal elections. They are looking for more.

On April 29, 2010 Feingold, along with Senators Schumer, Ron Wyden (D-OR), Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Al Franken (D-MN) announced legislation they hope will blunt what they see as the harmful impacts from the Supreme Court’s decision allowing corporations and other special interests to spend unlimited sums to influence elections.

The Senators are calling for their constituents to sign a petition in support of the proposed legislation. Feingold has posted a link on his campaign website.

Feingold and his fellow lawmakers, in an April 29th press release, said their goal is for the Senate to pass the new measure by July 4 so the law can take effect in time for the 2010 midterm elections.

The proposed legislation is a response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United case last January. That decision overturned a decades-old law banning political expenditures by corporate interests. The new Senate legislation would partly restore those limits – by barring foreign-controlled corporations, government contractors and companies that have received government assistance from making political expenditures – and also require corporations, unions, and other organizations that make political expenditures to disclose their donors and stand by their ads.

The legislation is being called the “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections” Act, or The DISCLOSE Act.

Feingold said in a public statement: “The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United was a tragic error. While the core of the McCain-Feingold law was left intact, the results of the decision are far reaching, giving big corporations greater power to sway elections and drown out the voices of average Americans. While no bill can reverse the Court’s mistake, we need to make sure that the public can follow the money and see exactly who is behind the onslaught of political advertising that the decision has unleashed. That is why this bill is so important.”

According to Feingold’s U.S. Senate website, under the new proposal, the heads of any organization sponsoring an ad—including corporate CEOs—would be required to appear during the ad, as is currently required of candidates for federal office. In cases where special interests funnel their money into shell groups, the top five organizations that have donated to the group would have to be identified on screen during any ad sponsored by that group. The CEO of the group’s top funder for that particular advertisement would also be required to appear on screen to deliver a “stand by your ad” disclaimer.

Also, the bill would effectively require, for the first time, all corporations and advocacy groups that make political expenditures to establish easy-to-track campaign accounts. All donations to these accounts that exceed $1,000—as well as all expenditures funded through these accounts—would be reported within 24 hours to the Federal Election Commission once the money is spent, as well as to the public on the organization’s website, and to company shareholders in their corporate filing statements. If a company or organization did not wish to establish these transparent accounts, it would be required to disclose all its donors, not just those whose contributions are earmarked for political activities.

The legislation will also strengthen a candidate’s ability to respond to corporate attack ads by ensuring they can purchase air time at the lowest possible rate in the same media markets where these attacks ads are airing. The bill would also make sure that private corporations don’t coordinate their political activities with candidates.

The legislation was developed together with the Obama administration and House leaders like U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). Van Hollen was expected to introduce the House version of the DISCLOSE Act later today with Republican cosponsors.

A summary of the proposed legislation can be found on Feingold’s website.