If you’re looking for a good summary of the current status of federal campaign finance laws, there’s a useful new report by the Congressional Research Service: “The State of Campaign Finance Policy: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress.”

The report highlights areas where there has been significant change (the use of unlimited corporate and union treasury funds for “independent” campaign expenditures, and unlimited contributions to PACS that make independent expenditurs but don’t make contributions to candidates), as well as things that haven’t changed (most limits on contributions to candidates and disclosure requirements).

The report also looks ahead at issues like to be taken up in the new congress to deal with the recent changes, including potentially enhanced disclosure by “independent” groups now able to accept unlimited contributions. Footnotes, including citations to legal cases, decisions, and legislation, are particularly useful.

While on the subject of campaigns, you might want to check out the financial disclosure statements filed by candidates in the recent elections, available on the Campaign Spending Commission web site. Although winning candidates will have to comply with disclosure requirements while in office, these candidate filings are the only source of personal information about losing candidates. If think there are up & comers likely to be playing public roles in the future, now’s the time to grab and file copies of the reports.