II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 79

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require disclosure

of certain disbursements made for electioneering communications, and

for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19, 1999

Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Mr. JEFFORDS) 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

require disclosure of certain disbursements made for electioneering communications, 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. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advancing Truth and

5 Accountability in Campaign Communications Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF ELECTIONEERING COMMUNICA2 TIONS.

3 Section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

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

5 the following:

6 ‘‘(d) ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS ON ELECTIONEER7 ING COMMUNICATIONS.—

8 ‘‘(1) STATEMENT REQUIRED.—Every person

9 who makes a disbursement for electioneering com10 munications in an aggregate amount in excess of

11 $10,000 during any calendar year shall, within 24

12 hours of each disclosure date, file with the Commis13 sion a statement containing the information de14 scribed in paragraph (2).

15 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF STATEMENT.—Each state16 ment required to be filed under this subsection shall

17 be made under penalty of perjury and shall contain

18 the following information:

19 ‘‘(A) The identification of the person mak20 ing the disbursement, of any entity sharing or

21 exercising direction or control over the activities

22 of such person, and of the custodian of the

23 books and accounts of the person making the

24 disbursement.
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1 ‘‘(B) The State of incorporation and the

2 principal place of business of the person making

3 the disbursement.

4 ‘‘(C) The amount of each disbursement

5 during the period covered by the statement and

6 the identification of the person to whom the

7 disbursement was made.

8 ‘‘(D) The elections to which the election9 eering communications pertain and the names

10 (if known) of the candidates identified or to be

11 identified.

12 ‘‘(E) If the disbursements were paid out of

13 a segregated account to which only individuals

14 could contribute, the names and addresses of all

15 contributors who contributed an aggregate

16 amount of $500 or more to that account during

17 the period beginning on the first day of the pre18 ceding calendar year and ending on the disclo19 sure date.

20 ‘‘(F) If the disbursements were paid out of

21 funds not described in subparagraph (E), the

22 names and addresses of all contributors who

23 contributed an aggregate amount of $500 or

24 more to the organization or any related entity

25 during the period beginning on the first day of
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1 the preceding calendar year and ending on the

2 disclosure date.

3 ‘‘(G) Whether or not any electioneering

4 communication is made in coordination, co5 operation, consultation, or concert with, or at

6 the request or suggestion of, any candidate or

7 any authorized committee, any political party or

8 committee, or any agent of the candidate, politi9 cal party, or committee and if so, the identifica10 tion of any candidate, party, committee, or

11 agent involved.

12 ‘‘(3) ELECTIONEERING COMMUNICATION.—For

13 purposes of this subsection—

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘electioneer15 ing communication’ means any broadcast from

16 a television or radio broadcast station which—

17 ‘‘(i) refers to a clearly identified can18 didate for Federal office;

19 ‘‘(ii) is made (or scheduled to be

20 made) within—

21 ‘‘(I) 60 days before a general,

22 special, or runoff election for such

23 Federal office; or

24 ‘‘(II) 30 days before a primary or

25 preference election, or a convention or
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1 caucus of a political party that has

2 authority to nominate a candidate, for

3 such Federal office; and

4 ‘‘(iii) is broadcast from a television or

5 radio broadcast station whose audience in6 cludes the electorate for such election, con7 vention, or caucus.

8 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—Such term shall not

9 include—

10 ‘‘(i) communications appearing in a

11 news story, commentary, or editorial dis12 tributed through the facilities of any

13 broadcasting station, unless such facilities

14 are owned or controlled by any political

15 party, political committee, or candidate; or

16 ‘‘(ii) communications which constitute

17 expenditures or independent expenditures

18 under this Act.

19 ‘‘(4) DISCLOSURE DATE.—For purposes of this

20 subsection, the term ‘disclosure date’ means—

21 ‘‘(A) the first date during any calendar

22 year by which a person has made disbursements

23 for electioneering communications aggregating

24 in excess of $10,000; and
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1 ‘‘(B) any other date during such calendar

2 year by which a person has made disbursements

3 for electioneering communications aggregating

4 in excess of $10,000 since the most recent dis5 closure date for such calendar year.

6 ‘‘(5) CONTRACTS TO DISBURSE.—For purposes

7 of this subsection, a person shall be treated as hav8 ing made a disbursement if the person has con9 tracted to make the disbursement.

10 ‘‘(6) COORDINATION WITH OTHER REQUIRE11 MENTS.—Any requirement to report under this sub12 section shall be in addition to any other reporting

13 requirement under this Act.’’.

14 SEC. 3. COORDINATED COMMUNICATIONS AS CONTRIBU15 TIONS.

16 Section 315(a)(7)(B) of the Federal Election Cam17 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(7)(B)) is amended

18 by inserting after clause (ii) the following:

19 ‘‘(iii) if—

20 ‘‘(I) any person makes, or con21 tracts to make, any payment for any

22 electioneering communication (within

23 the meaning of section 304(d)(3));

24 and
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1 ‘‘(II) such payment is coordi2 nated with a candidate for Federal of3 fice or an authorized committee of

4 such candidate, a Federal, State, or

5 local political party or committee

6 thereof, or an agent or official of any

7 such candidate, party, or committee,

8 such payment or contracting shall be treat9 ed as a contribution to such candidate and

10 as an expenditure by such candidate; and’’.

11 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF CORPORATE AND LABOR DIS12 BURSEMENTS FOR ELECTIONEERING COM13 MUNICATIONS.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 316(b)(2) of the Federal

15 Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441b(b)(2)) is

16 amended by inserting ‘‘or for any applicable electioneering

17 communication’’ before ‘‘, but shall not include’’.

18 (b) APPLICABLE ELECTIONEERING COMMUNICA19 TION.—Section 316 of such Act is amended by adding at

20 the end the following:

21 ‘‘(c) RULES RELATING TO ELECTIONEERING COM22 MUNICATIONS.—

23 ‘‘(1) APPLICABLE ELECTIONEERING COMMU24 NICATION.—For purposes of this section, the term

25 ‘applicable electioneering communication’ means an
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1 electioneering communication (within the meaning of

2 section 304(d)(3)) which is made by—

3 ‘‘(A) any entity to which subsection (a) ap4 plies other than a section 501(c)(4) organiza5 tion; or

6 ‘‘(B) a section 501(c)(4) organization from

7 amounts derived from the conduct of a trade or

8 business or from an entity described in sub9 paragraph (A).

10 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL OPERATING RULES.—For pur11 poses of paragraph (1), the following rules shall

12 apply:

13 ‘‘(A) An electioneering communication

14 shall be treated as made by an entity described

15 in paragraph (1)(A) if—

16 ‘‘(i) the entity described in paragraph

17 (1)(A) directly or indirectly disburses any

18 amount for any of the costs of the commu19 nication; or

20 ‘‘(ii) any amount is disbursed for the

21 communication by a corporation or organi22 zation or a State or local political party or

23 committee thereof that receives anything of

24 value from the entity described in para25 graph (1)(A), except that this clause shall
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1 not apply to any communication the costs

2 of which are defrayed entirely out of a seg3 regated account to which only individuals

4 can contribute.

5 ‘‘(B) A section 501(c)(4) organization that

6 derives amounts from business activities or

7 from any entity described in paragraph (1)(A)

8 shall be considered to have paid for any com9 munication out of such amounts unless such or10 ganization paid for the communication out of a

11 segregated account to which only individuals

12 can contribute.

13 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS AND RULES.—For purposes

14 of this subsection—

15 ‘‘(A) the term ‘section 501(c)(4) organiza16 tion’ means—

17 ‘‘(i) an organization described in sec18 tion 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue

19 Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation

20 under section 501(a) of such Code; or

21 ‘‘(ii) an organization which has sub22 mitted an application to the Internal Reve23 nue Service for determination of its status

24 as an organization described in clause (i);

25 and
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1 ‘‘(B) a person shall be treated as having

2 made a disbursement if the person has con3 tracted to make the disbursement.

4 ‘‘(4) COORDINATION WITH INTERNAL REVENUE

5 CODE.—Nothing in this subsection shall be con6 strued to authorize an organization exempt from

7 taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal Reve8 nue Code of 1986 from carrying out any activity

9 which is prohibited under such Code.’’.

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