I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 715

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to limit the amount

of contributions which may be made to a candidate for election to

the Senate or House of Representatives by an individual who is not

eligible to vote in the State or Congressional district involved, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 11, 1999

Mr. CAMPBELL 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

limit the amount of contributions which may be made

to a candidate for election to the Senate or House of

Representatives by an individual who is not eligible to

vote in the State or Congressional district involved, 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. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Can’t Vote, Can’t Con5 tribute Campaign Reform Act of 1999’’.
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1 TITLE I—LIMITATIONS ON

2 CONTRIBUTIONS

3 SEC. 101. LIMITATION ON AMOUNT OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO

4 CANDIDATES BY INDIVIDUALS NOT ELIGIBLE

5 TO VOTE IN STATE OR DISTRICT INVOLVED.

6 Section 315(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Election Cam7 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(1)(A)) is amended

8 by striking ‘‘in the aggregate, exceed $1,000;’’ and insert9 ing the following: ‘‘in the aggregate—

10 ‘‘(i) in the case of contributions made to a can11 didate for election for Senator or for Representative

12 in or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the

13 Congress by an individual who is not eligible to vote

14 in the State or Congressional district involved (as

15 the case may be) at the time the contribution is

16 made (other than an individual who would be eligible

17 to vote at such time but for the failure of the indi18 vidual to register to vote), exceed $100; or

19 ‘‘(ii) in the case of any other contributions, ex20 ceed $1,000;’’.
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1 SEC. 102. BAN ON ACCEPTANCE OF CONTRIBUTIONS MADE

2 BY NONPARTY POLITICAL ACTION COMMIT3 TEES.

4 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

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

6 the following new subsection:

7 ‘‘(i)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this

8 Act, no candidate for election for Federal office may ac9 cept any contribution from a political action committee.

10 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘political action com11 mittee’ means any political committee which is not—

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

13 candidate; or

14 ‘‘(B) a national, State, local, or district commit15 tee of a political party, including any subordinate

16 committee thereof.’’.
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1 TITLE II—ENSURING VOLUN2 TARINESS OF CONTRIBU3 TIONS OF CORPORATIONS,

4 UNIONS, AND OTHER MEM5 BERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS

6 SEC. 201. PROHIBITING INVOLUNTARY USE OF FUNDS OF

7 EMPLOYEES OF CORPORATIONS AND OTHER

8 EMPLOYERS AND MEMBERS OF UNIONS AND

9 ORGANIZATIONS FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 316 of the Federal Elec11 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441b) is amended

12 by adding at the end the following new subsection:

13 ‘‘(c)(1)(A) Except with the separate, prior, written,

14 voluntary authorization of the individual involved, it shall

15 be unlawful—

16 ‘‘(i) for any national bank or corporation de17 scribed in this section (other than a corporation ex18 empt from Federal taxation under section 501(c) of

19 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) to collect from

20 or assess a stockholder or employee any portion of

21 any dues, initiation fee, or other payment made as

22 a condition of employment which will be used for po23 litical activity in which the national bank or corpora24 tion is engaged; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) for any labor organization described in this

2 section to collect from or assess a member or non3 member any portion of any dues, initiation fee, or

4 other payment which will be used for political activ5 ity in which the labor organization is engaged.

6 ‘‘(B) An authorization described in subparagraph (A)

7 shall remain in effect until revoked and may be revoked

8 at any time. Each entity collecting from or assessing

9 amounts from an individual with an authorization in effect

10 under such subparagraph shall provide the individual with

11 a statement that the individual may at any time revoke

12 the authorization.

13 ‘‘(2)(A) Prior to the beginning of any 12-month pe14 riod (as determined by the corporation), each corporation

15 to which paragraph (1) applies shall provide each of its

16 shareholders with a notice containing the following:

17 ‘‘(i) The proposed aggregate amount for dis18 bursements for political activities by the corporation

19 for the period.

20 ‘‘(ii) The individual’s applicable percentage and

21 applicable pro rata amount for the period.

22 ‘‘(iii) A form that the individual may complete

23 and return to the corporation to indicate the individ24 ual’s objection to or approval of the disbursement of

25 amounts for political activities during the period.
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1 ‘‘(B) It shall be unlawful for a corporation to which

2 subparagraph (A) applies to make disbursements for polit3 ical activities during the 12-month period described in

4 such subparagraph in an amount greater than the sum

5 of the applicable pro rata amounts for such period of all

6 shareholders who return the form described in subpara7 graph (A)(iii) to the corporation prior to the beginning

8 of the period and indicate their approval of such disburse9 ments.

10 ‘‘(C) In this paragraph, the following definitions shall

11 apply:

12 ‘‘(i) The term ‘applicable percentage’ means,

13 with respect to a shareholder of a corporation, the

14 amount (expressed as a percentage) equal to the

15 number of shares of the corporation (within a par16 ticular class or type of stock) owned by the share17 holder at the time the notice described in subpara18 graph (A) is provided, divided by the aggregate

19 number of such shares owned by all shareholders of

20 the corporation at such time.

21 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘applicable pro rata amount’

22 means, with respect to a shareholder for a 12-month

23 period, the product of the shareholder’s applicable

24 percentage for the period and the proposed aggre25 gate amount for disbursements for political activities
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1 by the corporation for the period, as specified in the

2 notice provided under subparagraph (A).

3 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘politi4 cal activity’ means any activity carried out for the purpose

5 of influencing (in whole or in part) any election for Fed6 eral office, influencing the consideration or outcome of any

7 Federal legislation or the issuance or outcome of any Fed8 eral regulations, or educating individuals about candidates

9 for election for Federal office or any Federal legislation,

10 law, or regulations.’’.

11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

12 subsection (a) shall apply to amounts collected or assessed

13 on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

14 TITLE III—RESTRICTIONS ON

15 SOFT MONEY

16 SEC. 301. BAN ON SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL

17 PARTIES AND CANDIDATES; BAN ON USE OF

18 SOFT MONEY BY STATE POLITICAL PARTIES

19 FOR FEDERAL ELECTION ACTIVITY.

20 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

21 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

22 end the following new section:

23 ‘‘RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF SOFT MONEY BY POLITICAL

24 PARTIES AND CANDIDATES

25 ‘‘SEC. 323. (a) BAN ON USE BY NATIONAL PAR26 TIES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No political committee of a

2 national political party may solicit, receive, or direct

3 any contributions, donations, or transfers of funds,

4 or spend any funds, which are not subject to the

5 limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements

6 of this Act.

7 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—Paragraph (1) shall

8 apply to any entity which is established, financed,

9 maintained, or controlled (directly or indirectly) by,

10 or which acts on behalf of, a political committee of

11 a national political party, including any national

12 congressional campaign committee of such a party

13 and any officer or agent of such an entity or com14 mittee.

15 ‘‘(b) CANDIDATES.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No candidate for Federal

17 office, individual holding Federal office, or any agent

18 of such a candidate or officeholder may solicit, re19 ceive, or direct—

20 ‘‘(A) any funds in connection with any

21 Federal election unless the funds are subject to

22 the limitations, prohibitions and reporting re23 quirements of this Act;

24 ‘‘(B) any funds that are to be expended in

25 connection with any election for other than a
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1 Federal office unless the funds are not in excess

2 of the applicable amounts permitted with re3 spect to contributions to candidates and politi4 cal committees under paragraphs (1) and (2) of

5 section 315(a), and are not from sources pro6 hibited from making contributions by this Act

7 with respect to elections for Federal office; or

8 ‘‘(C) any funds on behalf of any person

9 which are not subject to the limitations, prohi10 bitions, and reporting requirements of this Act

11 if such funds are for the purpose of financing

12 any activity on behalf of a candidate for elec13 tion for Federal office or any communication

14 which refers to a clearly identified candidate for

15 election for Federal office.

16 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.—

17 Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—

18 ‘‘(A) the solicitation, receipt, or direction

19 of funds by an individual who is a candidate for

20 a non-Federal office if such activity is per21 mitted under State law for such individual’s

22 non-Federal campaign committee; or

23 ‘‘(B) the attendance by an individual who

24 holds Federal office at a fundraising event for

25 a State or local committee of a political party
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1 of the State which the individual represents as

2 a Federal officeholder, if the event is held in

3 such State.

4 ‘‘(c) STATE PARTIES.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any payment by a State

6 committee of a political party for a mixed political

7 activity—

8 ‘‘(A) shall be subject to limitation and re9 porting under this Act as if such payment were

10 an expenditure; and

11 ‘‘(B) may be paid only from an account

12 that is subject to the requirements of this Act.

13 ‘‘(2) MIXED POLITICAL ACTIVITY DEFINED.—

14 As used in this section, the term ‘mixed political ac15 tivity’ means, with respect to a payment by a State

16 committee of a political party, an activity (such as

17 a voter registration program, a get-out-the-vote

18 drive, or general political advertising) that is both

19 for the purpose of influencing an election for Fed20 eral office and for any purpose unrelated to influenc21 ing an election for Federal office.

22 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITING TRANSFERS OF NON-FEDERAL

23 FUNDS BETWEEN STATE PARTIES.—A State committee

24 of a political party may not transfer any funds to a State

25 committee of a political party of another State unless the
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1 funds are subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and re2 porting requirements of this Act.

3 ‘‘(e) APPLICABILITY TO FUNDS FROM ALL

4 SOURCES.—This section shall apply with respect to funds

5 of any individual, corporation, labor organization, or other

6 person.’’.

7 TITLE IV—EFFECTIVE DATE

8 SEC. 401. EFFECTIVE DATE.

9 Except as otherwise provided, the amendments made

10 by this Act shall apply with respect to elections occurring

11 after January 2001.

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