I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 229 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit a candidate 

for election for Federal office from using amounts contributed to the 

candidate’s campaign to make payments to vendors owned or controlled 

by the candidate or by an immediate family member of the candidate. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2021 

Mr. RUIZ 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 a candidate for election for Federal office from 

using amounts contributed to the candidate’s campaign 

to make payments to vendors owned or controlled by 

the candidate or by an immediate family member of 

the candidate. 

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 Spending 

5 Integrity Act’’. 


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•HR 229 IH

1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS FOR PAY2 MENTS TO VENDORS OWNED OR CON3 TROLLED BY CANDIDATE OR IMMEDIATE 

4 FAMILY MEMBER. 

5 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 313(b) of the Federal 

6 Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30114(b)) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following new para8 graph: 

9 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS TO VENDORS

10 OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY CANDIDATE OR IMME11 DIATE FAMILY MEMBER AS CONVERSION.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para13 graph (1), a contribution to an authorized com14 mittee of a candidate shall be considered to be 

15 converted to the personal use of the candidate 

16 if the contribution is used to make a payment 

17 to a vendor which is owned or controlled by the 

18 candidate or by an immediate family member of 

19 the candidate. 

20 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION OF OWNERSHIP

21 AND CONTROL.—For purposes of subparagraph 

22 (A), a vendor shall be considered to be owned 

23 or controlled by a candidate or by an immediate 

24 family member of the candidate if the candidate 

25 or the immediate family member— 


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•HR 229 IH

1 ‘‘(i) is a member of the board of di2 rectors or similar governing body of the 

3 vendor; 

4 ‘‘(ii) directly or indirectly owns or 

5 controls more than 50 percent of the vot6 ing shares of the vendor; or 

7 ‘‘(iii) is the beneficiary of a trust 

8 which owns or controls more than 50 per9 cent of the voting shares of the vendor 

10 and, under the terms of the trust, can di11 rect distributions from the trust. 

12 ‘‘(C) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER DE13 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘imme14 diate family member’ means, with respect to a 

15 candidate, any of the following: 

16 ‘‘(i) Spouse, and parents thereof. 

17 ‘‘(ii) Sons and daughters, and spouses 

18 thereof. 

19 ‘‘(iii) Parents, and spouses thereof. 

20 ‘‘(iv) Brothers and sisters, and 

21 spouses thereof. 

22 ‘‘(v) Grandparents and grandchildren, 

23 and spouses thereof. 


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•HR 229 IH

1 ‘‘(vi) Domestic partner and parents 

2 thereof, including domestic partners of any 

3 individual in clauses (i) through (v).’’. 

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

5 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to payments made 

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

Æ 


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