I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2565

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to ban activities

of political action committees in House of Representatives elections, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 31, 1995

Mr. HORN (for himself, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, and Mrs. SMITH of

Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Oversight

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

ban activities of political action committees in House

of Representatives elections, 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. BAN ON ACTIVITIES OF POLITICAL ACTION

4 COMMITTEES IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTA5 TIVES ELECTIONS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal Election

7 Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended

8 by adding at the end the following new section:
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1 ‘‘BAN ON ACTIVITIES OF POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES

2 IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTIONS

3 ‘‘SEC. 323. Notwithstanding any other provision of

4 this Act, no person other than an individual or a political

5 committee may make contributions, solicit or receive con6 tributions, or make expenditures for the purpose of influ7 encing an election for the office of Representative in, or

8 Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress.’’.

9 (b) DEFINITION OF POLITICAL COMMITTEE.—(1)

10 Section 301(4) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

11 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(4)) is amended to read as follows:

12 ‘‘(4) The term ‘political committee’ means—

13 ‘‘(A) the principal campaign committee of a

14 candidate;

15 ‘‘(B) any national, State, or district committee

16 of a political party, including any subordinate com17 mittee thereof; and

18 ‘‘(C) any local committee of a political party

19 which—

20 ‘‘(i) receives contributions aggregating in

21 excess of $5,000 during a calendar year;

22 ‘‘(ii) makes payments exempted from the

23 definition of contribution or expenditure under

24 paragraph (8) or (9) aggregating in excess of

25 $5,000 during a calendar year; or
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1 ‘‘(iii) makes contributions or expenditures

2 aggregating in excess of $1,000 during a cal3 endar year.’’.

4 (2) Section 316(b)(2) of the Federal Election Cam5 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441b(b)(2)) is amended by

6 striking out subparagraph (C).

7 (c) CANDIDATE’S COMMITTEES.—(1) Section 315(a)

8 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

9 441a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following

10 new paragraph:

11 ‘‘(9) For the purposes of the limitations provided by

12 paragraphs (1) and (2), any political committee which is

13 established or financed or maintained or controlled by any

14 candidate or Federal officeholder shall be deemed to be

15 an authorized committee of such candidate or office16 holder.’’.

17 (2) Section 302(e)(3) of the Federal Election Cam18 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 432(e)(3)) is amended to

19 read as follows:

20 ‘‘(3) No political committee that supports or has sup21 ported more than one candidate may be designated as an

22 authorized committee, except that a candidate for the of23 fice of President nominated by a political party may des24 ignate the national committee of such political party as

25 the candidate’s principal campaign committee, but only if
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1 that national committee maintains separate books of ac2 count with respect to its functions as a principal campaign

3 committee.’’.

4 (d) RULES APPLICABLE WHEN BAN NOT IN EF5 FECT.—For purposes of the Federal Election Campaign

6 Act of 1971, during any period in which the limitation

7 under section 323 of that Act (as added by subsection (a))

8 is not in effect—

9 (1) the amendments made by subsections (a)

10 and (b) shall not be in effect; and

11 (2) it shall be unlawful—

12 (A) for any person that is treated as a po13 litical committee by reason of paragraph (1)

14 and is directly or indirectly established, admin15 istered, or supported by a connected organiza16 tion which is a corporation, labor organization,

17 or trade association to make contributions to

18 any candidate or the candidate’s authorized

19 committee; and

20 (B) for any person that is treated as a po21 litical committee by reason of paragraph (1)

22 and is not directly or indirectly established, ad23 ministered, or supported by a connected organi24 zation which is a corporation, labor organiza25 tion, or trade association to make contributions
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1 to any candidate or the candidate’s authorized

2 committee for any election aggregating in ex3 cess of $1,000.

4 SEC. 2. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION LIMITA5 TION ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PERSONS

6 OTHER THAN LOCAL INDIVIDUAL RESIDENTS.

7 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

8 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a), is amended by adding at the

9 end the following new subsection:

10 ‘‘(i)(1) A candidate for the office of Representative

11 in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress

12 may not, with respect to a reporting period for an election,

13 accept contributions from persons other than local individ14 ual residents totaling in excess of the total of contributions

15 accepted from local individual residents.

16 ‘‘(2) As used in this subsection, the term ‘local indi17 vidual resident’ means an individual who resides in the

18 congressional district involved.

19 ‘‘(3)(A) Any candidate who accepts contributions that

20 exceed the limitation under this subsection with respect

21 to the pre-election report period or the post-election report

22 period shall pay to the Commission, for deposit in the

23 Treasury, an amount equal to 5 times the amount of the

24 excess contributions plus a civil penalty in an amount de25 termined by the Commission.
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1 ‘‘(B) Any candidate who accepts contributions that

2 exceed the limitation under this subsection with respect

3 to a period other than a period referred to in subpara4 graph (A) shall pay to the Commission, for deposit in the

5 Treasury, an amount equal to 3 times the amount of the

6 excess contributions.

7 ‘‘(C) Each report under section 304(a)(6) shall in8 clude a certification by the treasurer of the committee that

9 the contributions reported do not exceed the limitation

10 under this subsection.’’.

11 SEC. 3. EXPENDITURE LIMITATION OF $600,000 FOR EACH

12 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATE.

13 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

14 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a), as amended by section 2, is fur15 ther amended by adding at the end the following new sub16 section:

17 ‘‘(j) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act,

18 a candidate for the office of Representative in, or Delegate

19 or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress may not make

20 expenditures of more than $600,000 with respect to a gen21 eral election, including any primary election related to

22 such general election.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION LIMITATION OF $100,000

2 FOR EACH HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

3 CANDIDATE.

4 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

5 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a), as amended by sections 2 and

6 3, is further amended by adding at the end the following

7 new subsection:

8 ‘‘(k) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act,

9 a candidate for the office of Representative in, or Delegate

10 or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress may not make

11 personal contributions of more than $100,000 with respect

12 to a general election, including any primary election relat13 ed to such general election.’’.

14 SEC. 5. BAN ON INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES IN HOUSE

15 OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTIONS.

16 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

17 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.), as amended by section 1,

18 is further amended by adding at the end the following new

19 section:

20 ‘‘BAN ON INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES IN HOUSE OF

21 REPRESENTATIVES ELECTIONS

22 ‘‘SEC. 324. Notwithstanding any other provision of

23 this Act, no person may make any independent expendi24 ture with respect to an election for the office of Represent25 ative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the

26 Congress.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. BAN ON SOFT MONEY IN ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL

2 OFFICE.

3 Section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

4 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431) is amended—

5 (1) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (8), by

6 striking out ‘‘include—’’ in the matter before clause

7 (i) and all that follows through the end of the sub8 paragraph, and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘include the

9 value of services provided without compensation by

10 any individual who volunteers on behalf of a can11 didate or political committee.’’;

12 (2) by striking out paragraph (9)(B);

13 (3) by redesignating paragraph (9)(A) as para14 graph (9); and

15 (4) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) of para16 graph (9), as so redesignated by paragraph (3) of

17 this subsection, as subparagraphs (A) and (B), re18 spectively.

19 SEC. 7. FRANKING PROVISIONS.

20 (a) LIMITATION ON MASS MAILINGS DURING AN

21 ELECTION YEAR.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (6) of section

23 3210(a) of title 39, United States Code, is amended

24 by adding at the end the following:

25 ‘‘(G)(i) A Member of or Member-elect to the House

26 may not, during any even-numbered calendar year, mail
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1 any mass mailing as franked mail which is postmarked

2 on or before the Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in

3 November of such year.

4 ‘‘(ii) Nothing in clause (i) shall be considered to make

5 permissible, with respect to the portion of the year remain6 ing after the Tuesday referred to in such clause, the mail7 ing of any mass mailing which would be impermissible

8 under any other provision of law or any rule or regula9 tion.’’.

10 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subparagraph

11 (F) of section 3210(a)(6) of such title is amended by

12 striking ‘‘(A) and (C)’’ and inserting ‘‘(A), (C), and

13 (G),’’.

14 (b) DEFINITION OF A MASS MAILING.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (6) of section

16 3210(a) of title 39, United States Code, as amended

17 by subsection (a), is further amended by adding at

18 the end the following:

19 ‘‘(H) For purposes of applying this section with re20 spect to a Member of or Member-elect to the House, sub21 paragraph (E) shall be deemed to be amended—

22 ‘‘(i) by striking ‘500’ and inserting ‘25’; and

23 ‘‘(ii) by striking ‘or’ at the end of clause (ii),

24 by striking the period at the end of clause (iii) and
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1 inserting ‘; or’, and by adding after clause (iii) the

2 following:

3 ‘‘ ‘(iv) in furtherance of the administrative du4 ties of the Member.’.’’.

5 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subparagraph

6 (E) of section 3210(a)(6) of such title is amended

7 by striking ‘‘As used’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to sub8 paragraph (H), as used’’.

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

10 this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of

11 this Act and shall apply with respect to mail sent on or

12 after such date. For purposes of any determination as to

13 whether or not a mailing sent by a Member of or Member14 elect to the House of Representatives constitutes a mass

15 mailing, mail sent before such date shall be considered

16 separately from any mail sent on or after such date.

Æ