II

Calendar No. 725

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2941

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide meaningful

campaign finance reform through requiring better reporting, decreasing

the role of soft money, and increasing individual contribution limits,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 26, 2000

Mr. HAGEL (for himself, Mr. KERREY, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. BREAUX, Mr.

DEWINE, Mr. GORTON, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. SMITH of

Oregon, and Mr. THOMAS) introduced the following bill; which was read

the first time

JULY 27, 2000

Read the second time and placed on the calendar

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

provide meaningful campaign finance reform through requiring better reporting, decreasing the role of soft

money, and increasing individual contribution limits, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Open and Accountable

3 Campaign Financing Act of 2000’’.

4 TITLE I—DISCLOSURE

5 SEC. 101. ADDITIONAL MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY DISCLO6 SURE REPORTS.

7 (a) PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES.—

8 (1) MONTHLY REPORTS.—Section 304(a)(2)(A)

9 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2

10 U.S.C. 434(a)(2)(A)) is amended by striking clause

11 (iii) and inserting the following:

12 ‘‘(iii) additional monthly reports, which

13 shall be filed not later than the 20th day after

14 the last day of the month and shall be complete

15 as of the last day of the month, except that

16 monthly reports shall not be required under this

17 clause in November and December and a year

18 end report shall be filed not later than January

19 31 of the following calendar year.’’.

20 (2) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—Section

21 304(a)(2)(B) of such Act is amended by striking

22 ‘‘the following reports’’ and all that follows through

23 the period and inserting ‘‘the treasurer shall file

24 quarterly reports, which shall be filed not later than

25 the 15th day after the last day of each calendar

26 quarter, and which shall be complete as of the last
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1 day of each calendar quarter, except that the report

2 for the quarter ending December 31 shall be filed

3 not later than January 31 of the following calendar

4 year.’’.

5 (b) NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF A POLITICAL

6 PARTY.—Section 304(a)(4) of the Federal Election Cam7 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(4)) is amended by

8 adding at the end the following flush sentence: ‘‘Notwith9 standing the preceding sentence, a national committee of

10 a political party shall file the reports required under sub11 paragraph (B).’’.

12 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

13 (1) SECTION 304.—Section 304(a) of the Fed14 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

15 434(a)) is amended—

16 (A) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii), by striking

17 ‘‘quarterly reports’’ and inserting ‘‘monthly re18 ports’’; and

19 (B) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘quar20 terly report under paragraph (2)(A)(iii) or

21 paragraph (4)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘monthly

22 report under paragraph (2)(A)(iii) or paragraph

23 (4)(A)’’.

24 (2) SECTION 309.—Section 309(b) of the Fed25 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.
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1 437g(b)) by striking ‘‘calendar quarter’’ and insert2 ing ‘‘month’’.

3 SEC. 102. REPORTING BY NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY

4 COMMITTEES.

5 Section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

6 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434) is amended by adding at the end

7 the following:

8 ‘‘(d) POLITICAL COMMITTEES.—

9 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL AND CONGRESSIONAL POLIT10 ICAL COMMITTEES.—The national committee of a

11 political party, any national congressional campaign

12 committee of a political party, and any subordinate

13 committee of either, shall report all receipts and dis14 bursements during the reporting period.

15 ‘‘(2) ITEMIZATION.—If a political committee

16 has receipts or disbursements to which this sub17 section applies from any person aggregating in ex18 cess of $200 for any calendar year, the political

19 committee shall separately itemize its reporting for

20 such person in the same manner as required in para21 graphs (3)(A), (5), and (6) of subsection (b).

22 ‘‘(3) REPORTING PERIODS.—Reports required

23 to be filed under this subsection shall be filed for the

24 same time periods required for political committees

25 under subsection (a).’’.
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1 SEC. 103. INCREASED ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE.

2 Section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

3 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434), as amended by section 102, is

4 amended by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(e) INTERNET AVAILABILITY.—The Commission

6 shall make the information contained in the reports sub7 mitted under this section available on the Internet and

8 publicly available at the offices of the Commission as soon

9 as practicable (but in no case later than 24 hours) after

10 the information is received by the Commission.’’.

11 SEC. 104. PUBLIC ACCESS TO BROADCASTING RECORDS.

12 Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

13 U.S.C. 315) is amended by redesignating subsections (c)

14 and (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively, and insert15 ing after subsection (b) the following:

16 ‘‘(c) POLITICAL RECORD.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A licensee shall maintain,

18 and make available for public inspection, a complete

19 record of a request to purchase broadcast time

20 that—

21 ‘‘(A) is made by or on behalf of a legally

22 qualified candidate for public office; or

23 ‘‘(B) communicates a message relating to

24 any political matter of national importance,

25 including—

26 ‘‘(i) a legally qualified candidate;
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1 ‘‘(ii) any election to Federal office; or

2 ‘‘(iii) a national legislative issue of

3 public importance.

4 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORD.—A record main5 tained under paragraph (1) shall contain informa6 tion regarding—

7 ‘‘(A) whether the request to purchase

8 broadcast time is accepted or rejected by the li9 censee;

10 ‘‘(B) the rate charged for the broadcast

11 time;

12 ‘‘(D) the date and time that the commu13 nication is aired;

14 ‘‘(E) the class of time that is purchased;

15 ‘‘(F) the name of the candidate to which

16 the communication refers and the office to

17 which the candidate is seeking election, the elec18 tion to which the communication refers, or the

19 issue to which the communication refers (as ap20 plicable);

21 ‘‘(G) in the case of a request made by, or

22 on behalf of, a candidate, the name of the can23 didate, the authorized committee of the can24 didate, and the treasurer of such committee;

25 and
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1 ‘‘(H) in the case of any other request, the

2 name of the person purchasing the time, the

3 name, address, and phone number of a contact

4 person for such person, and a list of the chief

5 executive officers or members of the executive

6 committee or of the board of directors of such

7 person.

8 ‘‘(3) TIME TO MAINTAIN FILE.—The informa9 tion required under this subsection shall be placed in

10 a political file as soon as possible and shall be re11 tained by the licensee for a period of not less than

12 2 years.’’.

13 TITLE II—SOFT MONEY OF NA14 TIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES

15 AND CONTRIBUTION LIMITS

16 SEC. 201. LIMIT ON SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL

17 PARTY COMMITTEES.

18 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

19 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

20 end the following:

21 ‘‘SEC. 324. LIMIT ON SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL

22 PARTY COMMITTEES.

23 ‘‘(a) LIMITATION.—A national committee of a polit24 ical party, a congressional campaign committee of a na25 tional party, or an entity directly or indirectly established,
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1 financed, maintained, or controlled by such committee

2 shall not accept a donation, gift, or transfer of funds of

3 any kind (not including transfers from other committees

4 of the political party or contributions), during a calendar

5 year, from a person (including a person directly or indi6 rectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by

7 such person) in an aggregate amount in excess of $60,000.

8 ‘‘(b) AGGREGATE LIMIT ON DONOR.—A person shall

9 not make an aggregate amount of disbursements described

10 in subsection (a) in excess of $60,000 in any calendar

11 year.

12 ‘‘(c) INDEX OF AMOUNT.—In the case of any cal13 endar year after 2000—

14 ‘‘(1) each $60,000 amount under subsections

15 (a) and (b) shall be increased based on the increase

16 in the price index determined under section 315(c),

17 except that the base period shall be calendar year

18 2000; and

19 ‘‘(2) each amount so increased shall be the

20 amount in effect for the calendar year.’’.

21 SEC. 202. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

22 (a) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—Any Member of Congress,

23 candidate, national committee of a political party, or any

24 person adversely affected by section 324 of the Federal

25 Election Campaign Act of 1971, as added by section 201,
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1 may bring an action, in the United States District Court

2 for the District of Columbia, for declaratory judgment and

3 injunctive relief on the ground that such section 324 vio4 lates the Constitution.

5 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding

6 any other provision of law, any order of the United States

7 District Court for the District of Columbia granting or

8 denying an injunction regarding, or finally disposing of,

9 an action brought under subsection (a) shall be reviewable

10 by appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United

11 States. Any such appeal shall be taken by a notice of ap12 peal filed within 10 calendar days after such order is en13 tered; and the jurisdictional statement shall be filed within

14 30 calendar days after such order is entered.

15 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the

16 duty of the District Court for the District of Columbia

17 and the Supreme Court of the United States to advance

18 on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible ex19 tent the disposition of any matter brought under sub20 section (a).

21 (d) ENFORCEABILITY.—The enforcement of any pro22 vision of section 324 of the Federal Election Campaign

23 Act of 1971, as added by section 201, shall be stayed,

24 and such section 324 shall not be effective, for the

25 period—
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1 (1) beginning on the date of the filing of an ac2 tion under subsection (a), and

3 (2) ending on the date of the final disposition

4 of such action on its merits by the Supreme Court

5 of the United States.

6 (e) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply only

7 with respect to any action filed under subsection (a) not

8 later than 30 days after the effective date of this Act.

9 SEC. 203. INCREASE IN CONTRIBUTION LIMITS.

10 (a) INCREASE IN INDIVIDUAL AND POLITICAL COM11 MITTEE CONTRIBUTION LIMITS.—Section 315(a) of the

12 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

13 441a(a)) is amended—

14 (1) in paragraph (1)—

15 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking

16 ‘‘$1,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$3,000’’;

17 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking

18 ‘‘$20,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$60,000’’; and

19 (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking

20 ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000’’; and

21 (2) in paragraph (3)—

22 (A) by striking ‘‘$25,000’’ and inserting

23 ‘‘$75,000’’; and

24 (B) by striking the second sentence.
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1 (b) INCREASE IN MULTICANDIDATE LIMITS.—Sec2 tion 315(a)(2) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

3 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)) is amended—

4 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘$5,000’’

5 and inserting ‘‘$7,500’’;

6 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘$15,000’’

7 and inserting ‘‘$30,000’’; and

8 (3) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘$5,000’’

9 and inserting ‘‘$7,500’’.

10 (c) INDEXING.—Section 315(c) of the Federal Elec11 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(c)) is

12 amended—

13 (1) in paragraph (1)—

14 (A) by striking the second and third sen15 tences;

16 (B) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘At the be17 ginning’’; and

18 (C) by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(B) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), in any

20 calendar year after 2000—

21 ‘‘(i) a limitation established by subsection (a),

22 (b), or (d) shall be increased by the percent dif23 ference determined under subparagraph (A); and

24 ‘‘(ii) each amount so increased shall remain in

25 effect for the calendar year.
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1 ‘‘(C) In the case of limitations under paragraphs

2 (1)(A) and (2)(A) of subsection (a), each amount in3 creased under subparagraph (B) shall remain in effect for

4 the 2-year period beginning on the first day following the

5 date of the last general election in the year preceding the

6 year in which the amount is increased and ending on the

7 date of the next general election.’’; and

8 (2) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ‘‘means the

9 calendar year 1974’’ and inserting ‘‘means—

10 ‘‘(i) for purposes of subsections (b) and

11 (d), calendar year 1974; and

12 ‘‘(ii) for purposes of subsection (a), cal13 endar year 2000’’.

14 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

15 this section shall apply to calendar years beginning after

16 December 31, 2000.

17 TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS

18 PROVISIONS

19 SEC. 301. PROHIBITION OF SOLICITATION OF POLITICAL

20 PARTY SOFT MONEY IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 607 of title 18, United

22 States Code, is amended—

23 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘within the

24 meaning of section 301(8) of the Federal Election

25 Campaign Act of 1971’’; and
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1 (2) by adding at the end the following:

2 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF CONTRIBUTION.—In this sec3 tion, the term ‘contribution’ means a gift, subscription,

4 loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value

5 made by any person in connection with—

6 ‘‘(1) any election or elections for Federal office;

7 ‘‘(2) any political committee (as defined in sec8 tion 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

9 1971); or

10 ‘‘(3) any State, district, or local committee of a

11 political party.’’.

12 (b) AMENDMENT OF TITLE 18 TO INCLUDE PROHI13 BITION OF DONATIONS.—Section 602(a)(4) of title 18,

14 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘within the

15 meaning of section 301(8)’’ and inserting ‘‘(as defined in

16 section 607(c))’’.

17 SEC. 302. UPDATE OF PENALTY AMOUNTS.

18 Section 309 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

19 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 437g) is amended by adding at the end

20 the following:

21 ‘‘(e) ADJUSTMENT OF DOLLAR AMOUNTS FOR IN22 FLATION.—In the case of any calendar year after 2000—

23 ‘‘(1) each dollar amount under this section shall

24 be increased based on the increase in the price index

25 determined under section 315(c); and
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1 ‘‘(2) each amount so increased shall be the

2 amount in effect for the calendar year.

3 The preceding sentence shall not apply to any amount

4 under subsection (d) other than the $25,000 amount

5 under paragraph (1)(A) of such subsection.’’.

Calendar No. 725

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2941

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of

1971 to provide meaningful campaign finance reform through requiring better reporting, decreasing the role of soft money, and increasing individual contribution limits, and for other purposes.

JULY 27, 2000

Read the second time and placed on the calendar