I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2141

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for a

reduction in the limitation amount for multicandidate political committee

contributions to candidates, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 28, 1995

Mr. SHAYS (for himself, Mr. LUTHER, Mrs. WALDHOLTZ, Mr. BARRETT of

Wisconsin, Mr. KLUG, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. MINGE, Mr. MCHALE, Mr. DEAL

of Georgia, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. ZIMMER, Mr. MEEHAN, and Mr. INGLIS of

South Carolina) 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

provide for a reduction in the limitation amount for

multicandidate political committee contributions to candidates, 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. REDUCTION LIMITATION AMOUNT FOR

4 MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEE

5 CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES.

6 Section 315(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Election Cam7 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)(A)) is amended
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1 by striking out ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting in lieu thereof

2 ‘‘$2,500’’.

3 SEC. 2. PERCENTAGE LIMITATION ON CONTRIBUTIONS

4 FROM MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COM5 MITTEES.

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:

9 ‘‘(i) A candidate for the office of Representative in,

10 or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress

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

12 accept contributions from multicandidate political commit13 tees totaling in excess of 50 percent of all contributions

14 accepted by the candidate with respect to the reporting

15 period.’’.

16 SEC. 3. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION LIMITA17 TION ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PERSONS

18 OTHER THAN IN-STATE RESIDENTS.

19 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

20 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a), as amended by section 2, is fur21 ther amended by adding at the end the following new sub22 section:

23 ‘‘(j)(1) A candidate for the office of Representative

24 in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress

25 may not, with respect to a reporting period for an election,
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1 accept contributions from persons other than in-State resi2 dents totaling in excess of 50 percent of all contributions

3 accepted by the candidate with respect to the reporting

4 period.

5 ‘‘(2) As used in this subsection, the term ‘in-State

6 resident’ means a resident of the State in which the con7 gressional district involved is located.’’.

8 SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF LIMITATIONS ON CONTRIBUTIONS

9 TO CANDIDATES WHOSE OPPONENTS USE

10 LARGE AMOUNTS OF PERSONAL FUNDS.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 315 of the Federal Elec12 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a), as amended

13 by sections 2 and 3, is further amended by adding at the

14 end the following new subsection:

15 ‘‘(k) Each candidate in an election for the office of

16 Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resident

17 Commissioner to, the Congress shall declare by September

18 1 of an election year if it is the intention of the candidate

19 to make expenditures of $100,000 or more from the per20 sonal funds of the candidate. If a candidate declares or

21 makes expenditures of $100,000 or more from personal

22 funds, then, with respect to any opponent of the candidate

23 who so uses personal funds and the candidate who so uses

24 personal funds, the limitation under subsection (a)(2)(A)
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1 shall be deemed to be $5,000 and the limitations under

2 subsections (i) and (j) shall not apply.’’.

3 (b) NOTIFICATION.—Section 304(a)(6) of the Fed4 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(6))

5 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub6 paragraph:

7 ‘‘(C)(i) If expenditures of personal funds aggregate

8 a total of $100,000 or more, the principal campaign com9 mittee of a candidate shall notify the Commission in writ10 ing by telegram, facsimile, or other written electronic

11 means.

12 ‘‘(ii) The notification requirement under clause (i)

13 shall be made not later than 24 hours after the expendi14 ture is made.

15 ‘‘(iii) The Commission shall notify all other can16 didates of the expenditure immediately upon receipt of no17 tification under clause (i).’’.

18 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF LEADERSHIP COMMITTEES; RE19 STRICTION ON CONTRIBUTIONS BETWEEN

20 PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES.

21 (a) LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE PROHIBITION.—Sec22 tion 302 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

23 (2 U.S.C. 432) is amended by adding at the end the fol24 lowing new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(j) A candidate for Federal office may not establish,

2 maintain, finance, or control a political committee, other

3 than the principal campaign committee of the candidate.’’.

4 (b) PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE RESTRIC5 TION.—Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

6 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a), as amended by sections 2, 3,

7 and 4, is further amended by adding at the end the follow8 ing new subsection:

9 ‘‘(l) A principal campaign committee of a candidate

10 for Federal office may not make any contribution to any

11 other principal campaign committee (other than the prin12 cipal campaign committee of the same individual as a can13 didate for another Federal office).’’.

14 SEC. 6. CONTRIBUTIONS THROUGH INTERMEDIARIES AND

15 CONDUITS.

16 Section 315(a)(8) of the Federal Election Campaign

17 Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(8)) is amended to read

18 as follows:

19 ‘‘(8) For the purposes of this subsection:

20 ‘‘(A) Contributions made by a person, either di21 rectly or indirectly, to or on behalf of a particular

22 candidate, including contributions that are in any

23 way earmarked or otherwise directed through an

24 intermediary or conduit to a candidate, shall be
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1 treated as contributions from the person to the can2 didate.

3 ‘‘(B) Contributions made directly or indirectly

4 by a person to or on behalf of a particular candidate

5 through an intermediary or conduit, including con6 tributions made or arranged to be made by an

7 intermediary or conduit, shall be treated as contribu8 tions from the intermediary or conduit to the can9 didate if—

10 ‘‘(i) the contributions made through the

11 intermediary or conduit are in the form of a

12 check or other negotiable instrument made pay13 able to the intermediary or conduit rather than

14 the intended recipient; or

15 ‘‘(ii) the intermediary or conduit is—

16 ‘‘(I) a political committee;

17 ‘‘(II) an officer, employee, or agent of

18 such a political committee;

19 ‘‘(III) a political party;

20 ‘‘(IV) a partnership or sole proprietor21 ship;

22 ‘‘(V) a person who is required to reg23 ister or to report its lobbying activities, or

24 a lobbyist whose activities are required to

25 be reported, under section 308 of the Fed-
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1 eral Regulation of Lobbying Act (2 U.S.C.

2 267), the Foreign Agents Registration Act

3 of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611 et seq.), or any

4 successor Federal law requiring a person

5 who is a lobbyist or foreign agent to reg6 ister or a person to report its lobbying ac7 tivities; or

8 ‘‘(VI) an organization prohibited from

9 making contributions under section 316, or

10 an officer, employee, or agent of such an

11 organization acting on the organization’s

12 behalf.

13 ‘‘(C)(i) The term ‘intermediary or conduit’ does

14 not include—

15 ‘‘(I) a candidate or representative of a can16 didate receiving contributions to the candidate’s

17 principal campaign committee or authorized

18 committee;

19 ‘‘(II) a professional fundraiser com20 pensated for fundraising services at the usual

21 and customary rate, but only if the individual

22 is not described in subparagraph (B)(ii);

23 ‘‘(III) a volunteer hosting a fundraising

24 event at the volunteer’s home, in accordance
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1 with section 301(8)(B), but only if the individ2 ual is not described in subparagraph (B)(ii); or

3 ‘‘(IV) an individual who transmits a con4 tribution from the individual’s spouse.

5 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘representative’ means an indi6 vidual who is expressly authorized by the candidate

7 to engage in fundraising, and who occupies a signifi8 cant position within the candidate’s campaign orga9 nization, provided that the individual is not de10 scribed in subparagraph (B)(ii).

11 ‘‘(iii) The term ‘contributions made or arranged

12 to be made’ includes—

13 ‘‘(I) contributions delivered to a particular

14 candidate or the candidate’s authorized commit15 tee or agent; and

16 ‘‘(II) contributions directly or indirectly ar17 ranged to be made to a particular candidate or

18 the candidate’s authorized committee or agent,

19 in a manner that identifies directly or indirectly

20 to the candidate or authorized committee or

21 agent the person who arranged the making of

22 the contributions or the person on whose behalf

23 such person was acting.

24 Such term does not include contributions made, or

25 arranged to be made, by reason of an oral or written
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1 communication by a candidate for Federal office or

2 Federal officeholder expressly advocating the nomi3 nation for election, or election, of any other can4 didate for Federal office and encouraging the mak5 ing of a contribution to such other candidate.

6 ‘‘(iv) The term ‘acting on the organization’s be7 half’ includes the following activities by an officer,

8 employee or agent of a person described in subpara9 graph (B)(ii)(VI):

10 ‘‘(I) Soliciting or directly or indirectly ar11 ranging the making of a contribution to a par12 ticular candidate in the name of, or by using

13 the name of, such a person.

14 ‘‘(II) Soliciting or directly or indirectly ar15 ranging the making of a contribution to a par16 ticular candidate using other than incidental re17 sources of such a person.

18 ‘‘(III) Soliciting contributions for a par19 ticular candidate by substantially directing the

20 solicitations to other officers, employees, or

21 agents of such a person.

22 ‘‘(D) Nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit—

23 ‘‘(i) bona fide joint fundraising efforts con24 ducted solely for the purpose of sponsorship of

25 a fundraising reception, dinner, or other similar
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1 event, in accordance with rules prescribed by

2 the Commission, by—

3 ‘‘(I) 2 or more candidates;

4 ‘‘(II) 2 or more national, State, or

5 local committees of a political party within

6 the meaning of section 301(4) acting on

7 their own behalf; or

8 ‘‘(III) a special committee formed by

9 2 or more candidates, or a candidate and

10 a national, State, or local committee of a

11 political party acting on their own behalf;

12 or

13 ‘‘(ii) fundraising efforts for the benefit of

14 a candidate that are conducted by another can15 didate.

16 When a contribution is made to a candidate through an

17 intermediary or conduit, the intermediary or conduit shall

18 report the original source and the intended recipient of

19 the contribution to the Commission and to the intended

20 recipient.’’.

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