Kansas adjourns crypto bill targeting political donations to January 2024
A Kansas bill that aimed to limit and prohibit cryptocurrency donations in political campaigns has been adjourned to January 2024.
Lawmakers in the Kansas House of Representatives introduced the bill — HB 2167 — on Jan. 25, 2023. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the bill sought to enforce a $100 limit on all political donations in the state’s primary or general election. The bill also required politicians to “immediately convert” the crypto donations to U.S. dollars — with no scope of expenditures or HODLing the funds.
Soon after the bill was introduced and referred to the House Committee on Elections, a committee report was shared on Feb. 22, 2023 “recommending bill be passed” accompanied by certain amendments.
However, the bill was stricken from the calendar after failure to comply with the state’s Rule 1507 (Disposition of Bills Subject to Certain Deadlines), which subjects certain bills to strict deadlines. The title of the bill HB 2167 read:
“Amending the campaign finance act to regulate and limit the use of cryptocurrency and to prohibit the use of any political funds collected by a candidate or candidate committee for a candidate for federal office.”
Targeting Bitcoin (BTC) political donations in particular, the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission said in 2017 that cryptocurrency contributions were “too secretive.” Californian authorities too had banned crypto political donations back in 2018, but later backtracked on the decision in July 2022.
Related: KC Fed tracks healthy growth of crypto ATM industry despite predatory operators
Nine United States Senators joined in to support Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Senator Warren’s official senate webpage named Democratic Party Senators Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, Tina Smith, Jeanne Shaheen, Bob Casey, Richard Blumenthal, Michael Bennet and Catherine Cortez Masto, along with independent Senator Angus King, as those who joined the bipartisan coalition supporting the bill.
“Our expanding coalition shows that Congress is ready to take action – our bipartisan bill is the toughest proposal on the table cracking down on crypto’s illicit use and giving regulators more tools in their toolbox,” Warren added while welcoming the new bill supporters.
Magazine: Are DAOs overhyped and unworkable? Lessons from the front lines
A hostile environment era deportation policy for criminals is being expanded by the Labour government as it continues its migration crackdown.
The government wants to go further in extraditing foreign offenders before they have a chance to appeal by including more countries in the existing scheme.
Offenders that have a human right appeal rejected will get offshored, and further appeals will then get heard from abroad.
It follows the government announcing on Saturday that it wants to deport criminals as soon as they are sentenced.
The “deport now, appeal later” policy was first introduced when Baroness Theresa May was home secretary in 2014 as part of the Conservative government’s hostile environment policy to try and reduce migration.
It saw hundreds of people returned to a handful of countries like Kenya and Jamaica under Section 94B of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, added in via amendment.
In 2017, a Supreme Court effectively stopped the policy from being used after it was challenged on the grounds that appealing from abroad was not compliant with human rights.
However, in 2023, then home secretary Suella Braverman announced she was restarting the policy after providing more facilities abroad for people to lodge their appeals.
Now, the current government says it is expanding the partnership from eight countries to 23.
Previously, offenders were being returned to Finland, Nigeria, Estonia, Albania, Belize, Mauritius, Tanzania and Kosovo for remote hearings.
Angola, Australia, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Uganda and Zambia are the countries being added – with the government wanting to include more.
Read more:
Govt vows to deport foreign criminals immediately
First migrants detained under returns deal with France
Theresa May’s hostile environment policy proved controversial. Pic: PA
The Home Office claims this is the “the government’s latest tool in its comprehensive approach to scaling up our ability to remove foreign criminals”, touting 5,200 removals of foreign offenders since July 2024 – an increase of 14% compared with the year before.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Those who commit crimes in our country cannot be allowed to manipulate the system, which is why we are restoring control and sending a clear message that our laws must be respected and will be enforced.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “We are leading diplomatic efforts to increase the number of countries where foreign criminals can be swiftly returned, and if they want to appeal, they can do so safely from their home country.
“Under this scheme, we’re investing in international partnerships that uphold our security and make our streets safer.”
Both ministers opposed the hostile environment policy when in opposition.
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In 2015, Sir Keir Starmer had questioned whether such a policy was workable – saying in-person appeals were the norm for 200 years and had been a “highly effective way of resolving differences”.
He also raised concerns about the impact on children if parents were deported and then returned after a successful appeal.
In today’s announcement, the prime minister’s administration said it wanted to prevent people from “gaming the system” and clamp down on people staying in the UK for “months or years” while appeals are heard.
Despite Trump’s pro-crypto stance, Unicoin CEO says US banks continue closing accounts for crypto firms under “Operation Chokepoint.”
TRM Labs says the Embargo ransomware group has moved over $34 million in ransom-linked crypto since April, targeting US hospitals and critical infrastructure.
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