I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1100

To establish a temporary commission to recommend reforms in the laws

relating to elections for Federal office.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 1, 1995

Mrs. MALONEY (for herself, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. MEEHAN,

Mr. TORRICELLI, Ms. RIVERS, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin,

Mr. SERRANO, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. FATTAH) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Oversight and, in addition, to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To establish a temporary commission to recommend reforms

in the laws relating to elections for Federal 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 ‘‘Federal Election Law

5 Reform Commission Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE OF COMMISSION.

7 There is established a commission to be known as the

8 ‘‘Federal Election Law Reform Commission’’ (hereinafter
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1 in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). The pur2 poses of the Commission are to study the laws relating

3 to elections for Federal office and to recommend reforms

4 in those laws.

5 SEC. 3. MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION.

6 (a) APPOINTMENT.—The Commission shall be com7 posed of 8 members appointed by the President, by and

8 with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among

9 individuals who are not officers or employees of any gov10 ernment and who are specially qualified to serve on the

11 Commission by reason of education, training, or experi12 ence. In making appointments, the President shall con13 sult—

14 (1) the Speaker of the House of Representa15 tives with respect to the appointment of 2 members;

16 (2) the majority leader of the Senate with re17 spect to the appointment of 2 members;

18 (3) the minority leader of the House of Rep19 resentatives with respect to the appointment of one

20 member; and

21 (4) the minority leader of the Senate with re22 spect to the appointment of one member.

23 (b) CHAIRMAN.—At the time of the appointment, the

24 President shall designate one member of the Commission

25 as Chairman of the Commission.
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1 (c) TERMS.—The members of the Commission shall

2 serve for the life of the Commission.

3 (d) VACANCIES.—A vacancy in the Commission shall

4 be filled in the manner in which the original appointment

5 was made.

6 (e) POLITICAL AFFILIATION.—Not more than 4

7 members of the Commission may be of the same political

8 party.

9 SEC. 4. POWERS OF COMMISSION.

10 (a) HEARINGS.—The Commission may, for the pur11 pose of carrying out this Act, hold hearings, sit and act

12 at times and places, take testimony, and receive evidence

13 as the Commission considers appropriate.

14 (b) QUORUM.—Five members of the Commission

15 shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold

16 hearings. Any member of the Commission may, if author17 ized by the Commission, take any action which the Com18 mission is authorized to take under this section.

19 SEC. 5. REPORT AND RECOMMENDED LEGISLATION.

20 Not later than one year after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to the Con22 gress a report of the activities of the Commission, together

23 with a draft of legislation (including technical and con24 forming provisions) recommended by the Commission to

25 reform the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2
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1 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) and any other laws relating to elec2 tions for Federal office.

3 SEC. 6. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED BY THE COMMIS4 SION.

5 In formulating its draft of legislation under section

6 5, the Commission shall consider—

7 (1) the growth pattern of expenditures in elec8 tions for Federal office;

9 (2) the appropriateness of public financing,

10 communications vouchers, and postage subsidies

11 with respect to elections for Federal office;

12 (3) the option of expenditure limitations for

13 achieving a balance of campaign resources between

14 challengers and incumbents in elections for Federal

15 office;

16 (4) possible mechanisms of enforcement with

17 respect to expenditures in elections for Federal of18 fice, including (A) voluntary compliance through in19 centives such as direct public financing, communica20 tions vouchers, and postage subsidies, and (B) man21 datory compliance through imposition of penalties,

22 such as taxes on excess expenditures;

23 (5) the nature and extent of election related

24 spending (for party building, get-out-the-vote, and

25 similar activities) that is not currently regulated
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1 under Federal law (commonly known as ‘‘soft

2 money’’);

3 (6) the impact of non-party multicandidate po4 litical committees (commonly known as ‘‘political ac5 tion committees’’) on elections for Federal office;

6 (7) the adequacy of existing limitations on the

7 contributions and activities of such committees, as

8 well as the adequacy of existing limitations on the

9 contributions and activities of individuals and other

10 persons;

11 (8) the influence of independent expenditures

12 on elections for Federal office, through television ad13 vertising and otherwise, and the possibility of taking

14 independent expenditures into account in the com15 putation of contribution and expenditures with re16 spect to candidates who benefit from independent

17 expenditures; and

18 (9) the impact of out-of-State and out-of-Dis19 trict contributions on congressional elections.

20 SEC. 7. FAST-TRACK PROCEDURES.

21 (a) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND

22 SENATE.—This section is enacted by the Congress—

23 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

24 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re25 spectively, and as such they shall be considered as
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1 part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of

2 that House to which they specifically apply, and

3 such rules shall supersede other rules only to the ex4 tent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

5 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional

6 right of either House to change the rules (so far as

7 relating to such House) at any time, in the same

8 manner and to the same extent as in the case of any

9 other rule of that House.

10 (b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term

11 ‘‘Federal election bill’’ means only a bill of either House

12 of Congress which is introduced as provided in subsection

13 (c) to carry out the recommendations of the Commission

14 as set forth in the draft of legislation referred to in section

15 5.

16 (c) INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL.—Within 3 days

17 after the Commission submits its draft legislation under

18 section 5, a Federal election bill shall be introduced (by

19 request) in the House by the majority leader of the House

20 and shall be introduced (by request) in the Senate by the

21 majority leader of the Senate. Such bills shall be referred

22 to the appropriate committees.

23 (d) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.— No amendment to

24 a Federal election bill shall be in order in either the House

25 of Representatives or the Senate; and no motion to sus-
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1 pend the application of this subsection shall be in order

2 in either House; nor shall it be in order in either House

3 to entertain a request to suspend the application of this

4 subsection by unanimous consent.

5 (e) PERIOD FOR COMMITTEE AND FLOOR CONSIDER6 ATION.—

7 (1) If the committee of either House to which

8 a Federal election bill has been referred has not re9 ported it at the close of the 20th day after its intro10 duction, such committee shall be automatically dis11 charged from further consideration of the bill and it

12 shall be placed on the appropriate calendar. If prior

13 to the passage by one House of a Federal election

14 bill of that House, that House receives the same

15 Federal election bill from the other House, then—

16 (A) the procedure in that House shall be

17 the same as if no Federal election bill had been

18 received from the other House; but

19 (B) the vote on final passage shall be on

20 the Federal election bill of the other House.

21 (2) For purposes of paragraph (1), in comput22 ing a number of days in either House, there shall be

23 excluded the days on which that House is not in ses24 sion because of an adjournment of more than 3 days
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1 to a day certain or an adjournment of the Congress

2 sine die.

3 (f) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE.—

4 (1) A motion in the House of Representatives

5 to proceed to the consideration of a Federal election

6 bill shall be highly privileged except that a motion to

7 proceed to consider may only be made on the second

8 legislative day after the calendar day on which the

9 Member making the motion announces to the House

10 his intention to do so. The motion to proceed to con11 sider is not debatable. An amendment to the motion

12 shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order to move

13 to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed

14 to or disagreed to.

15 (2) Consideration of a Federal election bill in

16 the House of Representatives shall be in the House

17 with debate limited to not more than 10 hours,

18 which shall be divided equally between those favoring

19 and those opposing the bill. The previous question

20 on the Federal election bill shall be considered as or21 dered to final passage without intervening motion. It

22 shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote

23 by which a Federal election bill is agreed to or dis24 agreed to.
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1 (3) All appeals from the decisions of the Chair

2 relating to the application of the Rules of the House

3 of Representatives to the procedure relating to a

4 Federal election bill shall be decided without debate.

5 (g) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

6 (1) A motion in the Senate to proceed to the

7 consideration of a Federal election bill shall be privi8 leged and not debatable. An amendment to the mo9 tion shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order

10 to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion

11 is agreed to or disagreed to.

12 (2) Debate in the Senate on a Federal election

13 bill, and all debatable motions and appeals in con14 nection therewith, shall be limited to not more than

15 10 hours. The time shall be equally divided between,

16 and controlled by, the majority leader and the mi17 nority leader or their designees.

18 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo19 tion or appeal in connection with a Federal election

20 bill shall be limited to not more than 1 hour, to be

21 equally divided between, and controlled by, the

22 mover and the manager of the bill, except that in

23 the event the manager of the bill is in favor of any

24 such motion or appeal, the time in opposition there25 to, shall be controlled by the minority leader or his
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1 designee. Such leaders, or either of them, may, from

2 time under their control on the passage of a Federal

3 election bill, allot additional time to any Senator

4 during the consideration of any debatable motion or

5 appeal.

6 (4) A motion in the Senate to further limit de7 bate is not debatable. A motion to recommit a Fed8 eral election bill is not in order.

9 SEC. 8. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

10 (a) PAY AND TRAVEL EXPENSES OF MEMBERS.—(1)

11 Each member of the Commission, other than the Chair12 man, shall be paid at a rate equal to the daily equivalent

13 of the annual rate of basic pay payable for level IV of

14 the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5,

15 United States Code, for each day (including travel time)

16 during which the member is engaged in the actual per17 formance of duties vested in the Commission. The Chair18 man shall be paid for each day referred to in the preceding

19 sentence at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the an20 nual rate of basic pay payable for level III of the Executive

21 Schedule under section 5314 of title 5, United States

22 Code.

23 (2) Members of the Commission shall receive travel

24 expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in ac-
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1 cordance with sections 5702 and 5703 of title 5, United

2 States Code.

3 (b) STAFF DIRECTOR.—The Commission shall, with4 out regard to section 5311(b) of title 5, United States

5 Code, appoint a staff director, who shall be paid at the

6 rate of basic pay payable for level IV of the Executive

7 Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States

8 Code.

9 (c) STAFF.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Direc10 tor, with the approval of the Commission, may appoint

11 and fix the pay of additional personnel.

12 (2) The Director may make such appointments with13 out regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code,

14 governing appointments in the competitive service, and

15 any personnel so appointed may be paid without regard

16 to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chap17 ter 53 of that title relating to classification and General

18 Schedule pay rates, except that an individual so appointed

19 may not receive pay in excess of the maximum annual rate

20 of basic pay payable for grade GS–15 of the General

21 Schedule under section 5332 of title 5, United States

22 Code.

23 (d) DETAILS.—Upon request of the Director, the

24 head of any Federal department or agency may detail, on

25 a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel of that depart-
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1 ment or agency to the Commission to assist the Commis2 sion in carrying out its duties under this Act.

3 (e) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—The Commission

4 may procure by contract the temporary or intermittent

5 services of experts or consultants pursuant to section 3109

6 of title 5, United States Code.

7 SEC. 9. TERMINATION.

8 The Commission shall cease to exist 3 months after

9 the date of the submission of its report under section 5.

10 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

11 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Com12 mission such sums as are necessary to carry out its duties

13 under this Act.

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