II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5028 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require each 

authorized committee or leadership PAC of a former candidate for election for Federal office to disburse all of the remaining funds of the 

committee or PAC after the election, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 16, 2020 

Mr. BENNET introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 

require each authorized committee or leadership PAC 

of a former candidate for election for Federal office 

to disburse all of the remaining funds of the committee 

or PAC after the election, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Zeroing Out Money 

5 for Buying Influence after Elections (ZOMBIE) Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING AUTHORIZED COMMITTEES OF CAN2 DIDATES TO DISBURSE UNEXPENDED FUNDS. 

3 (a) REQUIRING DISBURSEMENT.—Title III of the 

4 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 

5 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 303 the fol6 lowing new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 303A. DISBURSEMENT OF REMAINING UNEXPENDED 

8 FUNDS. 

9 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING DISBURSEMENT.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each authorized committee 

11 or leadership PAC of a candidate shall, in accord12 ance with subsection (b), disburse all funds of the 

13 authorized committee or leadership PAC before the 

14 earliest of— 

15 ‘‘(A) the last day of the applicable dis16 bursement period; 

17 ‘‘(B) the date on which the candidate first 

18 makes a lobbying contact or is employed or re19 tained to make a lobbying contact that would 

20 require registration under section 4 of the Lob21 bying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603); 

22 or 

23 ‘‘(C) the date on which the candidate be24 comes an agent of a foreign principal that 

25 would require registration under section 2 of 


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1 the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, 

2 as amended (22 U.S.C. 612). 

3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CANDIDATES IN NEXT

4 ELECTION.—Paragraph (1) does not apply to the 

5 authorized committee or leadership PAC of a can6 didate who, prior to the first day of the applicable 

7 disbursement period, provides the appropriate State 

8 election official with the information and fees (if 

9 any) required under State law for the individual to 

10 qualify as a candidate for the next election for the 

11 office sought by the candidate or the next election 

12 for another Federal office. 

13 ‘‘(3) APPLICABLE DISBURSEMENT PERIOD.—In 

14 this subsection, the ‘applicable disbursement period’ 

15 is, with respect to a candidate seeking election for 

16 an office, the 6-month period which begins on the 

17 day after the latest date on which an individual may 

18 provide the appropriate State election official with 

19 the information and fees (if any) required under 

20 State law for the individual to qualify as a candidate 

21 for the next election for such office. In the case of 

22 a candidate for Senate, the office sought shall be the 

23 Senate office in the class that ends with the term of 

24 the office for which such candidate is seeking. 


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1 ‘‘(b) RULES FOR DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—Any 

2 funds to which subsection (a) applies that are disbursed 

3 on or after the first day of the applicable disbursement 

4 period shall be disbursed as follows: 

5 ‘‘(1) PAYMENT OF OBLIGATIONS.—An author6 ized committee or leadership PAC shall first pay ob7 ligations incurred in connection with the operation of 

8 the committee. 

9 ‘‘(2) OTHER PERMITTED DISBURSEMENTS.— 

10 Notwithstanding section 313(a), if, after disbursing 

11 all of the funds necessary to pay obligations under 

12 paragraph (1), funds of a committee or PAC remain 

13 unexpended, the committee or PAC may only dis14 burse such remaining funds for the following pur15 poses: 

16 ‘‘(A) To return to any person a contribu17 tion the person made to the committee or PAC. 

18 ‘‘(B) Except as provided in paragraph 

19 (3)(A), to make a contribution to an organiza20 tion described in section 170(c) of the Internal 

21 Revenue Code of 1986. 

22 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITIONS.—In disbursing funds pur23 suant to the requirements of this section, an author24 ized committee or leadership PAC may not disburse 


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1 funds during the applicable disbursement period to 

2 any of the following: 

3 ‘‘(A) Any organization described in section 

4 170(c) (other than an organization described in 

5 paragraph (1) thereof) if— 

6 ‘‘(i) the organization was established 

7 by the candidate; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the organization bears the can9 didate’s name; or 

10 ‘‘(iii) the candidate or a relative of the 

11 candidate— 

12 ‘‘(I) is employed by such organi13 zation; 

14 ‘‘(II) is an officer of such organi15 zation; or 

16 ‘‘(III) performs services (whether 

17 paid or unpaid) on behalf of such or18 ganization. 

19 ‘‘(B) Any relative of the candidate unless 

20 the funds are disbursed to pay an obligation of 

21 the committee as described in paragraph (1) 

22 which is reported by the committee or PAC as 

23 a disbursement under section 304(b)(5) or 

24 which would be so reported if the amount of the 

25 disbursement were in excess of $200. 


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1 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 ‘‘(1) LEADERSHIP PAC.—The term ‘leadership 

3 PAC’ has the meaning given such term in section 

4 304(i)(8)(B). 

5 ‘‘(2) RELATIVE.—The term ‘relative’ means, 

6 with respect to a candidate, an individual who is re7 lated to the candidate as father, mother, son, daugh8 ter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, 

9 niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, 

10 son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in11 law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, 

12 stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sister.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO PER14 MITTED USES OF CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 313(a) of 

15 such Act (52 U.S.C. 30114(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘A 

16 contribution’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to section 303A, a 

17 contribution’’. 

18 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

19 this section shall apply with respect to the regularly sched20 uled general election for Federal office held in November 

21 2020 and each succeeding election for Federal office. 


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1 SEC. 3. REQUIRING FORMER CANDIDATES SERVING AS 

2 REGISTERED LOBBYISTS TO CERTIFY COM3 PLIANCE WITH DISBURSEMENT REQUIRE4 MENTS. 

5 (a) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—Section 4(b) 

6 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

7 1603(b)) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

9 end; 

10 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 

11 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

12 (3) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(8) in the case of an individual who was a can15 didate for election for Federal office, a certification 

16 (under penalty of perjury) that each authorized com17 mittee and leadership PAC (as defined in section 

18 304(i)(8)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

19 of 1971) of the individual is in compliance with sec20 tion 303A of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

21 1971 (relating to the disbursement of funds of the 

22 committee or leadership PAC which remain unex23 pended after the date of the election).’’. 

24 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

25 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to registration 

26 statements filed under section 4(a) of the Lobbying DisVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Dec 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5028.IS S5028

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1 closure Act on or after the date of the regularly scheduled 

2 general election for Federal office held in November 2020. 

3 SEC. 4. REQUIRING FORMER CANDIDATES SERVING AS 

4 FOREIGN AGENTS TO CERTIFY COMPLIANCE 

5 WITH DISBURSEMENT REQUIREMENTS. 

6 (a) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—Section 2(a) 

7 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as 

8 amended (22 U.S.C. 612(a)) is amended by adding at the 

9 end the following: 

10 ‘‘(12) In the case of an individual who was a 

11 candidate for election for Federal office, a certifi12 cation (under penalty of perjury) that each author13 ized committee and leadership PAC (as defined in 

14 section 304(i)(8)(B) of the Federal Election Cam15 paign Act of 1971) of the individual is in compliance 

16 with section 303A of the Federal Election Campaign 

17 Act of 1971 (relating to the disbursement of funds 

18 of the committee or leadership PAC which remain 

19 unexpended after the date of the election).’’. 

20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

21 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to registration 

22 statements filed under section 2 of the Foreign Agents 

23 Registration Act of 1938, as amended on or after the date 


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1 of the regularly scheduled general election for Federal of2 fice held in November 2020. 

Æ 


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