II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1932

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

of nonconstituent contributions that a candidate may accept, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 8, 1996

Mr. ABRAHAM introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Rules and Administration

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

limit the amount of nonconstituent contributions that

a candidate may accept, 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. LIMIT ON AMOUNT OF NONCONSTITUENT CON4 TRIBUTIONS AND MULTICANDIDATE POLITI5 CAL COMMITTEE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT A

6 CANDIDATE MAY ACCEPT.

7 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

8 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

9 end the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 324. LIMIT ON AMOUNT OF NONCONSTITUENT CON2 TRIBUTIONS AND POLITICAL ACTION COM3 MITTEE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT A CANDIDATE

4 MAY ACCEPT.

5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘non6 constituent source’ means—

7 ‘‘(1) an individual that is a resident of a State

8 other than a candidate’s State (in the case of a can9 didate for the Senate) or district (in the case of a

10 candidate for the House of Representatives);

11 ‘‘(2) a multicandidate political committee that,

12 during any calendar year, accepts from residents of

13 a candidate’s State contributions in an amount that

14 is not more than 10 percent of the total amount of

15 contributions accepted by the committee; and

16 ‘‘(3)(A) a separate segregated fund of a cor17 poration that does not have an office in the can18 didate’s State (in the case of a candidate for the

19 Senate) or district (in the case of a candidate for the

20 House of Representatives); and

21 ‘‘(B) a separate segregated fund of a labor or22 ganization, membership organization, or unincor23 porated cooperative not more than 10 percent of the

24 members of which are residents of the candidate’s

25 State (in the case of a candidate for the Senate) or
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1 district (in the case of a candidate for the House of

2 Representatives).

3 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.—A candidate for election to the

4 Senate or House of Representatives, and the candidate’s

5 authorized committees, shall not accept for use in an elec6 tion—

7 ‘‘(1) an amount of contributions from non8 constituent sources that exceeds 33 percent of the

9 total amount of contributions accepted by the can10 didate or candidate’s authorized committees; or

11 ‘‘(2) an amount of contributions from multican12 didate political committees and separate segregated

13 funds that exceeds 20 percent of the total amount

14 of contributions accepted by the candidate or can15 didate’s authorized committees.’’.

16 SEC. 2. CONTROL OF CONTRIBUTIONS BY POLITICAL AC17 TION COMMITTEES.

18 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

19 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) (as amended by section 1)

20 is amended by adding at the end the following:

21 ‘‘SEC. 325. CONTROL OF CONTRIBUTIONS BY MULTICAN22 DIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEES AND SEPA23 RATE SEGREGATED FUNDS.

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for a multi25 candidate political committee or a separate segregated
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1 fund established under section 316(b) to make a contribu2 tion to or an expenditure on behalf of, or an expenditure

3 in opposition to, a candidate or candidate’s authorized

4 committee, political party, or any other person unless the

5 decision to make the contribution or expenditure is made

6 by vote of the contributors to the multicandidate political

7 committee or separate segregated fund conducted in ac8 cordance with the regulation issued by the Commission

9 under subsection (b).

10 ‘‘(b) REGULATION.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The regulation under sub12 section (a) shall require, at a minimum, that a

13 multicandidate political committee or separate seg14 regated fund—

15 ‘‘(A) send to each of its contributors a

16 form, in the form set forth in paragraph (2),

17 for the contributor to return to the committee

18 or fund that states the percentages in which the

19 contributor desires the amount of contributions

20 made by the contributor to be contributed to

21 the party organizations and candidates of each

22 political party;

23 ‘‘(B) make contributions and expenditures

24 in accordance with the percentages specified by

25 each contributor (unless a contributor specifies
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1 percentages that total more than or less than

2 100 percent, in which case contributions and

3 expenditures shall be made to the parties for

4 which percentages are specified pro rata); and

5 ‘‘(C) maintain the forms for a period of 5

6 years after the forms are returned to the com7 mittee and allow inspection of the forms by the

8 Commission and by contributors to the commit9 tee or fund.

10 ‘‘(2) FORM.—The form referred to in para11 graph (1)(A) is as follows:

12 ‘‘MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEE/

13 SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUND CONTRIBU14 TOR PARTICIPATION FORM

15 ‘‘Please indicate what percentage of your contribution you

16 want to go to the party organizations and/or candidates

17 of each of the political parties listed below*:

18 ‘‘(List all political parties that are on the official ballot

19 of the contributor’s State):

20 ‘‘EXAMPLES

21 ‘‘ll Republican Party

22 ‘‘ll Democrat Party

23 ‘‘ll Libertarian Party

24 ‘‘ll Natural Law Party

25 ‘‘ll Reform Party
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1 ‘‘ll American Independent Party

2 ‘‘ll Taxpayers’ Party

3 ‘‘ll llllllll Party

4 ‘‘*If for any reason your specified percentages total more

5 or less than 100 percent, your contribution will be allo6 cated pro rata in accordance with your indicated choices.

7 ‘‘This form must be kept on file for 5 years by the multican8 didate political committee or the separate segregated fund

9 and is subject to inspection by the Federal Election Com10 mission and by the contributors to the committee or the

11 fund.’’.

12 SEC. 3. INCREASE IN INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION LIMIT.

13 Section 315(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act

14 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)) is amended—

15 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A) by striking

16 ‘‘$1,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$1,910’’; and

17 (2) by adding at the end the following:

18 ‘‘(9) INDEXING.—The $1,910 amount under

19 paragraph (1)(A) shall be increased as of the begin20 ning of each calendar year based on the increase in

21 the price index determined under subsection (c), ex22 cept that the base period shall be calendar year

23 1996.’’.

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