I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 450 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit criminal 

corporations from making disbursements of funds in connection with 

a campaign for election for Federal, State, or local office. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 21, 2015 

Mr. ELLISON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 

prohibit criminal corporations from making disbursements of funds in connection with a campaign for election for Federal, State, or local office. 

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 ‘‘Protect Democracy 

5 From Criminal Corporations Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING POLITICAL SPENDING BY CRIMINAL 

2 CORPORATIONS. 

3 (a) PROHIBITION.—Title III of the Federal Election 

4 Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 325. PROHIBITING POLITICAL SPENDING BY CRIMI7 NAL CORPORATIONS. 

8 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent that corpora10 tions are permitted under law to make a disburse11 ment of funds in connection with a campaign for 

12 election for Federal, State, or local office, including 

13 a disbursement consisting of a contribution or dona14 tion of money or other thing of value, an inde15 pendent expenditure, or a disbursement for an elec16 tioneering communication (as defined in section 

17 304(f)(3)), it shall be unlawful for a corporation 

18 which is a criminal corporation, or for any separate 

19 segregated fund established under section 

20 316(b)(2)(C) by a criminal corporation, to make 

21 such a disbursement during the applicable period de22 scribed in paragraph (2). 

23 ‘‘(2) APPLICABLE PERIOD DESCRIBED.—In 

24 paragraph (1), the ‘applicable period’ with respect to 

25 a criminal corporation is the 6-year period which be26 gins— 

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1 ‘‘(A) in the case of a criminal corporation 

2 described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b), on 

3 the date on which the corporation is finally con4 victed of the offense described in such para5 graph; or 

6 ‘‘(B) in the case of a criminal corporation 

7 described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b), on 

8 the date on which the corporation enters into 

9 an agreement described in such paragraph. 

10 ‘‘(b) CRIMINAL CORPORATION DEFINED.—In this 

11 section, the term ‘criminal corporation’ means a corpora12 tion— 

13 ‘‘(1) which has been convicted of violating sec14 tion 371 of title 18, United States Code (relating to 

15 conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the 

16 United States), or any other felony involving dishon17 esty or a breach of trust; or 

18 ‘‘(2) which has been charged with violating sec19 tion 371 of such title or with another felony involv20 ing dishonesty or a breach of trust and has entered 

21 into a nonprosecution agreement, a deferred pros22 ecution agreement, or any other agreement with the 

23 Attorney General to resolve the charge, if the terms 

24 and conditions of the agreement include a requiremstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 ment that the corporation make a payment equal to 

2 or greater than $1,000,000.’’. 

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

4 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to a corporation 

5 which is convicted of the offense described in paragraph 

6 (1) of section 325(b) of the Federal Election Campaign 

7 Act of 1971 (as added by subsection (a)), or which enters 

8 into an agreement described in paragraph (2) of such sec9 tion, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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