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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 356

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

of political action committees in Federal elections.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. PORTMAN 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 Federal

elections.

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 FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

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

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

7 by adding at the end the following new section:
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1 ‘‘BAN ON FEDERAL ELECTION ACTIVITIES BY POLITICAL

2 ACTION COMMITTEES

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 Federal office.’’.

8 (b) DEFINITION OF POLITICAL COMMITTEE.—Sec9 tion 301(4) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

10 (2 U.S.C. 431(4)) is amended to read as follows:

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

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

13 candidate;

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

15 of a political party, including any subordinate com16 mittee thereof;

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

18 which—

19 ‘‘(i) receives contributions aggregating in

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

21 ‘‘(ii) makes payments exempted from the

22 definition of contribution or expenditure under

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

24 $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; and

4 ‘‘(D) any committee jointly established by a

5 principal campaign committee and any committee

6 described in subparagraph (B) or (C) for the pur7 pose of conducting joint fundraising activities.’’.

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

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

10 441a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following

11 new paragraph:

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

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

14 established or financed or maintained or controlled by any

15 candidate or Federal officeholder shall be deemed to be

16 an authorized committee of such candidate or office17 holder.’’.

18 (2) Section 302(e)(3) of the Federal Election Cam19 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 432(e)(3)) is amended to

20 read as follows:

21 ‘‘(3) No political committee that supports or has sup22 ported more than one candidate may be designated as an

23 authorized committee, except that—

24 ‘‘(A) a candidate for the office of President

25 nominated by a political party may designate the na-
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1 tional committee of such political party as the can2 didate’s principal campaign committee, but only if

3 that national committee maintains separate books of

4 account with respect to its functions as a principal

5 campaign committee; and

6 ‘‘(B) a candidate may designate a political com7 mittee established solely for the purpose of joint

8 fundraising by such candidates as an authorized

9 committee.’’.

10 (d) RULES APPLICABLE WHEN BAN NOT IN EF11 FECT.—For purposes of the Federal Election Campaign

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

13 on making contributions under section 323 of that Act (as

14 added by subsection (a)) is not in effect—

15 (1) the amendments made by subsections (a),

16 (b), and (c) shall not be in effect; and

17 (2) the limitation amount under section

18 315(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Election Campaign Act

19 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)(A)) shall be $1,000.

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