National Institute on Money in State Politics: “What is independent spending? Organizations and individuals spend millions of dollars every election cycle supporting or opposing candidates and ballot measures-without coordinating or consulting with the candidate or measure committee. Most of the time, a state calls these independent expenditures. In Part One of a two-part review of disclosure of this independent spending in the 50 states, researchers at the National Institute on Money in State Politics reviewed each state’s law to define best practices for independent spending disclosure.”