I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3274

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to reform House

of Representatives campaign finance laws, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 18, 1996

Mr. GOSS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on House Oversight, and in addition to the Committee on Commerce, for

a period to 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 amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

reform House of Representatives campaign finance laws,

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. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION LIMI4 TATION ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PERSONS

5 OTHER THAN LOCAL INDIVIDUAL RESIDENTS.

6 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

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

8 the following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(i) A candidate for the office of Representative in,

2 or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress

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

4 accept contributions—

5 ‘‘(1) from persons other than individual resi6 dents of the congressional district involved in excess

7 of 50 percent of the total of contributions accepted;

8 or

9 ‘‘(2) from persons other than individual resi10 dents of the State in which the congressional district

11 involved is located in excess of 10 percent of the

12 total of contributions accepted.’’.

13 SEC. 2. REDUCTION IN LIMITATION AMOUNT APPLICABLE

14 TO CONTRIBUTIONS BY A MULTICANDIDATE

15 POLITICAL COMMITTEE TO A HOUSE OF REP16 RESENTATIVES CANDIDATE.

17 Section 315(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Election Cam18 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)(A)) is amended

19 by inserting after ‘‘$5,000’’ the following: ‘‘, except that

20 in the case of an election for the office of Representative

21 in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Con22 gress, the limitation shall be $1,000’’.
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1 SEC. 3. BAN ON SOFT MONEY.

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

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

4 by adding at the end the following new section:

5 ‘‘LIMITATIONS AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR

6 AMOUNTS PAID FOR MIXED POLITICAL ACTIVITIES

7 ‘‘SEC. 323. (a) Any payment by the national commit8 tee of a political party or a State committee of a political

9 party for a mixed political activity—

10 ‘‘(1) shall be subject to limitation and reporting

11 under this Act as if such payment were an expendi12 ture; and

13 ‘‘(2) may be paid only from an account that is

14 subject to the requirements of this Act.

15 ‘‘(b) As used in this section, the term ‘mixed political

16 activity’ means, with respect to a payment by the national

17 committee of a political party or a State committee of a

18 political party, an activity, such as a voter registration

19 program, a get-out-the-vote drive, or general political ad20 vertising, that is both (1) for the purpose of influencing

21 an election for Federal office, and (2) for any purpose un22 related to influencing an election for Federal office.’’.

23 (b) REPEAL OF BUILDING FUND EXCEPTION TO THE

24 DEFINITION OF THE TERM ‘‘CONTRIBUTION’’.—Section

25 301(8)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

26 (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)) is amended—
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1 (1) by striking out clause (viii); and

2 (2) by redesignating clauses (ix) through (xiv)

3 as clauses (viii) through (xiii), respectively.

4 SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.

5 Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

6 U.S.C. 315) is amended—

7 (1) in subsection (b)(1)—

8 (A) by striking ‘‘forty-five’’ and inserting

9 ‘‘30’’;

10 (B) by striking ‘‘sixty’’ and inserting ‘‘45’’;

11 and

12 (C) by striking ‘‘lowest unit charge of the

13 station for the same class and amount of time

14 for the same period’’ and insert ‘‘lowest charge

15 of the station for the same amount of time for

16 the same period’’;

17 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as

18 subsections (d) and (e), respectively;

19 (3) by inserting immediately after subsection

20 (b) the following new subsection:

21 ‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), a li22 censee shall not preempt the use, during any period speci23 fied in subsection (b)(1), of a broadcasting station by a

24 legally qualified candidate for public office who has pur-
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1 chased and paid for such use pursuant to the provisions

2 of subsection (b)(1).

3 ‘‘(2) If a program to be broadcast by a broadcasting

4 station is preempted because of circumstances beyond the

5 control of the broadcasting station, any candidate adver6 tising spot scheduled to be broadcast during that program

7 may also be preempted.’’; and

8 (4) in subsection (d) (as redesignated by para9 graph (2) of this section)—

10 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para11 graph (1);

12 (B) by striking the period at the end of

13 paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

14 (C) by adding at the end thereof the fol15 lowing new paragraph:

16 ‘‘(3) a station’s lowest charge for purposes of

17 paragraph (1)—

18 ‘‘(A) with respect to a primary or primary

19 runoff election, is determined for the interval

20 beginning 60 days before such election and end21 ing on the date of that election; and

22 ‘‘(B) with respect to a general or special

23 election, is determined for the interval begin-
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1 ning 90 days before such election and ending on

2 the date of that election.’’.

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