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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1837

To establish a temporary commission to recommend reforms in the laws

relating to elections for Federal office.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 14, 1995

Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. MEEHAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Oversight, and

in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be 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 establish a temporary commission to recommend reforms

in the laws relating to elections for Federal office.

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 ‘‘Campaign Finance Re5 form Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE OF COMMISSION.

7 There is established a commission to be known as the

8 ‘‘Campaign Finance Reform Commission’’ (hereinafter in

9 this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). The purposes
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1 of the Commission are to study the laws relating to elec2 tions for Federal office and to recommend reforms in

3 those laws.

4 SEC. 3. MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION.

5 (a) APPOINTMENT.—The Commission shall be com6 posed of 13 members appointed from among individuals

7 who are not officers or employees of any government and

8 who are specially qualified to serve on the Commission by

9 reason of education, training, or experience. Of the mem10 bers of the Commission—

11 (1) 3 members shall be appointed by the major12 ity leader of the House of Representatives, and one

13 of those members shall be an independent;

14 (2) 3 members shall be appointed by the major15 ity leader of the Senate, and one of those members

16 shall be an independent;

17 (3) 3 members shall be appointed by the minor18 ity leader of the House of Representatives, and one

19 of those members shall be an independent;

20 (4) 3 members shall be appointed by the minor21 ity leader of the Senate, and one of those members

22 shall be an independent; and

23 (5) 1 member, who shall be designated as

24 Chairman of the Commission, shall be jointly ap-
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1 pointed by the President and the Speaker of the

2 House of Representatives.

3 (b) INDEPENDENT DEFINED.—An independent mem4 ber of the Commission shall not have registered in or de5 clared officially his affiliation with a political party or

6 voted in the primary election of a political party in the

7 last 7 years, and shall never have held appointed or elected

8 public or party office.

9 (c) TERMS.—The members of the Commission shall

10 serve for the life of the Commission.

11 (d) VACANCIES.—A vacancy in the Commission shall

12 be filled in the manner in which the original appointment

13 was made.

14 (e) POLITICAL AFFILIATION.—Not more than 4

15 members of the Commission may be of the same political

16 party.

17 SEC. 4. POWERS OF COMMISSION.

18 (a) HEARINGS.—The Commission may, for the pur19 pose of carrying out this Act, hold hearings, sit and act

20 at times and places, take testimony, and receive evidence

21 as the Commission considers appropriate.

22 (b) QUORUM.—Seven members of the Commission

23 shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold

24 hearings. Any member of the Commission may, if author-
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1 ized by the Commission, take any action which the Com2 mission is authorized to take under this section.

3 SEC. 5. REPORT AND RECOMMENDED LEGISLATION.

4 Not later than 10 months after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to the Con6 gress a report of the activities of the Commission, together

7 with a draft of legislation (including technical and con8 forming provisions) recommended by the Commission to

9 reform the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2

10 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) and any other laws relating to elec11 tions for Federal office.

12 SEC. 6. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED BY THE COMMIS13 SION.

14 In formulating its draft of legislation under section

15 5, the Commission shall consider ways to—

16 (1) increase confidence in the Federal electoral

17 system;

18 (2) increase voter participation;

19 (3) create a more equitable electoral system for

20 challengers and incumbents; and

21 (4) remove the negative and insidious aspects of

22 campaign financing.

23 SEC. 7. FAST-TRACK PROCEDURES.

24 (a) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND

25 SENATE.—This section is enacted by the Congress—
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1 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

2 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re3 spectively, and as such they shall be considered as

4 part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of

5 that House to which they specifically apply, and

6 such rules shall supersede other rules only to the ex7 tent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

8 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional

9 right of either House to change the rules (so far as

10 relating to such House) at any time, in the same

11 manner and to the same extent as in the case of any

12 other rule of that House.

13 (b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term

14 ‘‘Federal election bill’’ means only a bill of either House

15 of Congress which is introduced as provided in subsection

16 (c) to carry out the recommendations of the Commission

17 as set forth in the draft of legislation referred to in section

18 5.

19 (c) INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL.—Within 3 days

20 after the Commission submits its draft legislation under

21 section 5, a Federal election bill shall be introduced (by

22 request) in the House by the majority leader of the House

23 or his designee and shall be introduced (by request) in

24 the Senate by the majority leader of the Senate or his
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1 designee. Such bills shall be referred to the appropriate

2 committees.

3 (d) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No amendment to

4 a Federal election bill shall be in order in either the House

5 of Representatives or the Senate; and no motion to sus6 pend the application of this subsection shall be in order

7 in either House; nor shall it be in order in either House

8 to entertain a request to suspend the application of this

9 subsection by unanimous consent.

10 (e) PERIOD FOR COMMITTEE AND FLOOR CONSIDER11 ATION.—

12 (1) If the committee of either House to which

13 a Federal election bill has been referred has not re14 ported it at the close of the 20th day after its intro15 duction, such committee shall be automatically dis16 charged from further consideration of the bill and it

17 shall be placed on the appropriate calendar. If prior

18 to the passage by one House of a Federal election

19 bill of that House, that House receives the same

20 Federal election bill from the other House, then—

21 (A) the procedure in that House shall be

22 the same as if no Federal election bill had been

23 received from the other House; but

24 (B) the vote on final passage shall be on

25 the Federal election bill of the other House.
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1 (2) For purposes of paragraph (1), in comput2 ing a number of days in either House, there shall be

3 excluded the days on which that House is not in ses4 sion because of an adjournment of more than 3 days

5 to a day certain or an adjournment of the Congress

6 sine die.

7 (f) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE.—

8 (1) A motion in the House of Representatives

9 to proceed to the consideration of a Federal election

10 bill shall be highly privileged except that a motion to

11 proceed to consider may only be made on the second

12 legislative day after the calendar day on which the

13 Member making the motion announces to the House

14 his intention to do so. The motion to proceed to con15 sider is not debatable. An amendment to the motion

16 shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order to move

17 to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed

18 to or disagreed to.

19 (2) Consideration of a Federal election bill in

20 the House of Representatives shall be in the House

21 with debate limited to not more than 10 hours,

22 which shall be divided equally between those favoring

23 and those opposing the bill. The previous question

24 on the Federal election bill shall be considered as or25 dered to final passage without intervening motion. It
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1 shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote

2 by which a Federal election bill is agreed to or dis3 agreed to.

4 (g) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

5 (1) A motion in the Senate to proceed to the

6 consideration of a Federal election bill shall be privi7 leged and not debatable. An amendment to the mo8 tion shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order

9 to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion

10 is agreed to or disagreed to.

11 (2) Debate in the Senate on a Federal election

12 bill, and all debatable motions and appeals in con13 nection therewith, shall be limited to not more than

14 10 hours. The time shall be equally divided between,

15 and controlled by, the majority leader and the mi16 nority leader or their designees.

17 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo18 tion or appeal in connection with a Federal election

19 bill shall be limited to not more than one hour, to

20 be equally divided between, and controlled by, the

21 mover and the manager of the bill, except that in

22 the event the manager of the bill is in favor of any

23 such motion or appeal, the time in opposition there24 to, shall be controlled by the minority leader or his

25 designee. Such leaders, or either of them, may, from
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1 time under their control on the passage of a Federal

2 election bill, allot additional time to any Senator

3 during the consideration of any debatable motion or

4 appeal.

5 SEC. 8. TERMINATION.

6 The Commission shall cease to exist 3 months after

7 the date of the submission of its report under section 5.

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