I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3192

To deny certain benefits to candidates for election to the House of Representatives who accept contributions in excess of certain limitations, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 30, 1993

Mr. BROWDER introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Post Office

and Civil Service

A BILL

To deny certain benefits to candidates for election to the

House of Representatives who accept contributions in

excess of certain limitations, 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. DENIAL OF CERTAIN TAX BENEFITS.

4 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Section 527 of the Internal

5 Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to political organizations)

6 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new

7 subsection:

8 ‘‘(i) SPECIAL RULES FOR CERTAIN CAMPAIGN COM9 MITTEES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any political

2 organization to which this subsection applies for any

3 taxable year—

4 ‘‘(A) all excess campaign contributions re5 ceived by such organization during such taxable

6 year shall be included in gross income and the

7 exemptions provided by subsection (c)(1) for ex8 empt function income shall not apply to such

9 contributions, and

10 ‘‘(B) the provisions of subsection (h) shall

11 not apply to such organization for such taxable

12 year.

13 ‘‘(2) ORGANIZATIONS TO WHICH SUBSECTION

14 APPLIES.—This subsection shall apply to any politi15 cal organization for any taxable year if—

16 ‘‘(A) such organization is a campaign com17 mittee of a candidate for election as a Member

18 of the House of Representatives or as a Dele19 gate or Resident Commissioner to the House of

20 Representatives, and

21 ‘‘(B) the contribution limitations of para22 graph (3) are not satisfied by such candidate—

23 ‘‘(i) in the case of the first taxable

24 year beginning in an election cycle, for the
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1 portion of such election cycle ending with

2 the close of the taxable year, or

3 ‘‘(ii) in the case of the taxable year in

4 which such election cycle ends, for the en5 tire election cycle.

6 ‘‘(3) CONTRIBUTION LIMITATIONS.—The con7 tribution limitations of this paragraph are satisfied

8 by any candidate for any election cycle (or portion

9 thereof) if—

10 ‘‘(A) the sum of the following amounts

11 does not exceed $600,000:

12 ‘‘(i) the amount of cash and the fair

13 market value of other property held by

14 campaign committees of such candidate as

15 of the beginning of such election cycle, plus

16 ‘‘(ii) the aggregate amount of political

17 contributions accepted by such candidate

18 or by such candidate’s campaign commit19 tees during such election cycle (or portion

20 thereof), and

21 ‘‘(B) the aggregate amount of political

22 contributions from multicandidate political com23 mittees accepted by such candidate or by such

24 candidate’s campaign committees during such
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1 election cycle (or portion thereof) does not ex2 ceed $300,000.

3 ‘‘(4) EXCESS CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS.—

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this

5 subsection, the term ‘excess campaign contribu6 tions’ means the amount of contributions re7 ceived by the political organization during the

8 taxable year to the extent such contributions

9 exceed the amount permitted under the con10 tribution limitations of paragraph (3).

11 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE.—For purposes of

12 this subtitle, contributions received during the

13 portion of any election cycle before the first tax14 able year beginning in such cycle shall be treat15 ed as received in such first taxable year.

16 ‘‘(5) ELECTION CYCLE.—For purposes of this

17 subsection, the term ‘election cycle’ means the period

18 beginning with the day after the date of a general

19 election for the House of Representatives and ending

20 with the date of the next general election for the

21 House of Representatives.

22 ‘‘(6) MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMIT23 TEE.—The term ‘multicandidate political committee’

24 has the meaning given such term by section
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1 315(a)(4) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

2 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(4)).’’

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

4 subsection (a) shall apply to taxable years beginning after

5 the date of the enactment of this Act.

6 SEC. 2. DENIAL OF LOWEST UNIT CHARGE FOR CAMPAIGN

7 ADS.

8 Section 315(b) of the Communications Act of 1934

9 (47 U.S.C. 315(b)) is amended by adding at the end the

10 following new sentence:

11 ‘‘The limitations on charges contained in this subsection

12 shall not apply in the case of a candidate for election as

13 a Member of, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to,

14 the United States House of Representatives unless such

15 candidate certifies, at the time of entering into a contract

16 for the use of such broadcasting station, that such can17 didate has not obtained any excess campaign contributions

18 for the current election cycle, as determined under section

19 527(i)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.’’.

20 SEC. 3. REDUCED THIRD-CLASS MAILING RATES.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3626(e) of title 39, Unit22 ed States Code, is amended—

23 (1) in paragraph (2)(A)—

24 (A) by striking ‘‘and the National’’ and in25 serting ‘‘the National’’; and
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1 (B) by striking ‘‘Committee;’’ and insert2 ing ‘‘Committee, and, subject to paragraph (3),

3 a campaign committee of a candidate for the

4 House of Representatives;’’;

5 (2) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ‘‘and’’

6 after the semicolon;

7 (3) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking the period

8 and inserting ‘‘; and’’;

9 (4) by adding after paragraph (2)(C) the fol10 lowing:

11 ‘‘(D) the term ‘candidate for the House of Rep12 resentatives’ means a candidate for election as a

13 Member of, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner

14 to, the House of Representatives.’’; and

15 (5) by adding after paragraph (2) the following:

16 ‘‘(3) The rates under this subsection shall not be

17 available to a campaign committee of a candidate for the

18 House of Representatives unless such committee certifies,

19 at such time and in such manner as the Postal Service

20 by regulation requires, that such candidate has not ob21 tained any excess campaign contributions for the current

22 election cycle, as determined under section 527(i)(4) of the

23 Internal Revenue Code of 1986.’’.

24 (b) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense of

25 the Congress that any additional costs incurred by the
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1 United Postal Service in connection with providing re2 duced rates of postage pursuant to the amendments made

3 by subsection (a) should be funded out of any revenues

4 attributable to the amendment made by section 1.

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