I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2630 

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

committees and leadership PACs of a candidate or an individual holding 

Federal office from making payments to the candidate’s or individual’s 

spouse, to require such committees and PACs to report on disbursements 

made to the immediate family members of the candidate or individual, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 7, 2007 

Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. HOYER, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 

and Ms. SLAUGHTER) 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 authorized committees and leadership PACs of 

a candidate or an individual holding Federal office from 

making payments to the candidate’s or individual’s 

spouse, to require such committees and PACs to report 

on disbursements made to the immediate family members 

of the candidate or individual, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Campaign Expenditure 

3 Transparency Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING PAYMENT OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO 

5 SPOUSES OF CANDIDATES; DISCLOSURE OF 

6 PAYMENTS TO FAMILY MEMBERS. 

7 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 313 of the Federal Elec8 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 439a) is amended 

9 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(c) RESTRICTIONS ON PAYMENTS TO SPOUSES; DIS11 CLOSURE OF PAYMENTS TO FAMILY MEMBERS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

14 other provision of this Act, an authorized com15 mittee of a candidate and a leadership PAC of 

16 a candidate or individual holding Federal office 

17 may not make any payment to the spouse of the 

18 candidate or individual (as the case may be) for 

19 services provided to the committee or leadership 

20 PAC. 

21 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION FOR REIMBURSEMENTS

22 FOR TRAVEL.—Subparagraph (A) does not 

23 apply to amounts paid to reimburse a spouse 

24 for any travel expenses which the committee or 

25 leadership PAC involved is permitted to reim26 burse under this Act. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF PAYMENTS TO IMMEDIATE

2 FAMILY MEMBERS.—In addition to any other infor3 mation included in a report submitted by an author4 ized committee or a leadership PAC of a candidate 

5 or individual holding Federal office under section 

6 304, the committee or PAC shall include in the re7 port a separate statement of any disbursements 

8 made to any immediate family member of the can9 didate or individual (as the case may be) during the 

10 period covered by the report, as well as any dis11 bursements made to the spouse of the candidate or 

12 individual which the committee or leadership PAC is 

13 permitted to make under the exception described in 

14 paragraph (1)(B). 

15 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS TO CERTAIN

16 ENTITIES.—For purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2), 

17 a payment to an entity shall be considered to be a 

18 payment to the spouse or an immediate family mem19 ber of the candidate or individual (as the case may 

20 be) if the spouse or immediate family member is an 

21 officer or director of the entity. 

22 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR NOMINAL REIMBURSE23 MENTS.—Paragraphs (1) and (2) do not apply to 

24 nominal amounts paid to reimburse a spouse or im25 mediate family member for supplies and equipment 


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1 used by the committee or leadership PAC involved, 

2 so long as the total amount paid by the committee 

3 or leadership PAC for all such reimbursements dur4 ing a calendar year does not exceed $500. 

5 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

6 ‘‘(A) the term ‘immediate family member’ 

7 means the son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter8 in-law, mother, father, brother, sister, brother9 in-law, sister-in-law, or grandchild of the can10 didate or individual involved; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the term ‘leadership PAC’ means a 

12 political committee which is directly or indi13 rectly established, maintained, or controlled by 

14 a candidate for election for Federal office or an 

15 individual holding Federal office but is not an 

16 authorized committee of the candidate or indi17 vidual, except that such term does not include 

18 any political committee of a political party.’’. 

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 313(a)(1) 

20 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 439a(a)(1)) is amended by striking 

21 ‘‘for otherwise’’ and inserting ‘‘subject to subsection (c), 

22 for otherwise’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF PENALTY AGAINST CANDIDATE OR 

2 OFFICEHOLDER. 

3 Section 309 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

4 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 437g) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(e) In the case of a violation of section 313(c) com7 mitted by an authorized committee or leadership PAC of 

8 a candidate or individual holding Federal office, if the can9 didate or individual knew of the violation, any penalty im10 posed under this section shall be imposed on the candidate 

11 or individual and not on the committee or leadership 

12 PAC.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 

15 respect to elections occurring after December 2007. 

Æ 


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