I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4819 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit nonparty 

multicandidate political committees from making contributions in support 

of campaigns for election for Federal office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2006 

Mr. LEACH 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 nonparty multicandidate political committees 

from making contributions in support of campaigns for 

election for Federal office, 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; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘PAC Elimination Act’’. 

6 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Congress now faces a crisis of public con2 fidence about its ability to conduct the people’s busi3 ness. 

4 (2) Members of Congress, their relatives, lobby5 ists, insider-controlled nonprofit organizations, and 

6 interest groups have been accused of acting surrep7 titiously and in concert to enrich themselves at the 

8 expense of the public. 

9 (3) A government of the people, by the people, 

10 and for the people cannot be a government where in11 fluence is purchasable. 

12 (4) Political action committees in particular 

13 represent a narrow fraction of the public viewpoint 

14 and generally have few ties, if any, to the State or 

15 district from which the member of Congress is elect16 ed. 

17 (5) The primary recipients of PAC contribu18 tions are incumbents, particularly the most powerful 

19 members of Congress. 

20 (6) The public objects to the establishment of 

21 a new political class, a privileged group with perks, 

22 amenities, and job security unavailable to average 

23 Americans. The public also objects to tilting the 

24 electoral landscape to the advantage of a few. 


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1 (7) If Congress fails to respond appropriately to 

2 limit the costs of elections and the perks of power, 

3 it will become a legislative body in which the small 

4 businessman, the farmer, the day laborer, and the 

5 stay-at-home parent are only secondarily rep6 resented. 

7 (8) Campaign finance reform is the unfinished 

8 business of a Congress in disrepute. 

9 SEC. 2. BAN ON ACTIVITIES OF POLITICAL ACTION COM10 MITTEES IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 

11 (a) BAN ON PACS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal 

13 Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et 

14 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 

15 new section: 

16 ‘‘BAN ON ACTIVITIES OF POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES

17 ‘‘SEC. 325. Notwithstanding any other provision of 

18 this Act, no person other than an individual or a political 

19 committee may make contributions, solicit or receive con20 tributions, or make expenditures for the purpose of influ21 encing an election for Federal office.’’. 

22 (2) REVISION OF DEFINITION OF POLITICAL COM23 MITTEE.—Section 301(4) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 431(4)) 

24 is amended to read as follows: 

25 ‘‘(4) The term ‘political committee’ means— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the principal campaign committee of a 

2 candidate; 

3 ‘‘(B) any national, State, or district committee 

4 of a political party, including any subordinate com5 mittee thereof; 

6 ‘‘(C) any local committee of a political party 

7 which— 

8 ‘‘(i) receives contributions aggregating in 

9 excess of $5,000 during a calendar year, 

10 ‘‘(ii) makes payments exempted from the 

11 definition of contribution or expenditure under 

12 paragraph (8) or (9) aggregating in excess of 

13 $5,000 during a calendar year, or 

14 ‘‘(iii) makes contributions or expenditures 

15 aggregating in excess of $1,000 during a cal16 endar year; and 

17 ‘‘(D) any committee jointly established by a 

18 principal campaign committee and any committee 

19 described in subparagraph (B) or (C) for the pur20 pose of conducting joint fundraising activities.’’. 

21 (b) RULES APPLICABLE WHEN BAN NOT IN EF22 FECT.—For purposes of the Federal Election Campaign 

23 Act of 1971, during any period after the effective date 

24 of this Act in which the limitation on making contributions 


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1 under section 325 of that Act (as added by subsection (a)) 

2 is not in effect— 

3 (1) the amendments made by subsection (a) 

4 shall not be in effect; and 

5 (2) the limitation amount under section 

6 315(a)(2)(A) of such Act shall be $1,000. 

7 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS ON CONTRIBUTIONS BY 

8 POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES. 

9 (a) ALTERNATIVE LIMITATION ON AGGREGATE

10 AMOUNT OF CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY MULTICANDIDATE

11 COMMITTEE TO ANY CANDIDATE.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 315(a)(2)(A) of the 

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

14 441a(a)(2)(A)) is amended by striking the semicolon 

15 at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, or an 

16 amount equal to 10 percent of the aggregate amount 

17 of contributions received by the candidate and the 

18 committees from all sources, whichever is lesser;’’. 

19 (2) RETURN OF EXCESS CONTRIBUTIONS BY

20 CANDIDATES.—Section 315(f) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 

21 441a(f)) is amended— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘(f)’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘(f)(1)’’; and 

24 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

25 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(2) A candidate (or the authorized committees of a 

2 candidate) who receives a contribution from a multi3 candidate political committee in excess of the amount al4 lowed under subsection (a)(2)(A) shall return the amount 

5 of such excess contribution to the contributor.’’. 

6 (b) LIMITATION ON AGGREGATE AMOUNT OF CON7 TRIBUTIONS MADE BY MULTICANDIDATE COMMITTEE TO

8 ALL CANDIDATES.—Section 315(a) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 

9 441a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following 

10 new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(9) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, 

12 during each two-year period beginning on January 1 of 

13 an odd-numbered year, the total amount of contributions 

14 of a nonparty multicandidate political committee to all 

15 candidates for Federal office and their authorized political 

16 committees shall not exceed $500,000.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. REQUIRING NOT LESS THAN 80 PERCENT OF CAN18 DIDATE FUNDS TO COME FROM IN-STATE IN19 DIVIDUALS. 

20 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

21 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a) is amended by adding at the end 

22 the following new subsection: 

23 ‘‘(k) PERCENTAGE OF CANDIDATE CONTRIBUTIONS

24 REQUIRED TO COME FROM IN-STATE INDIVIDUALS.— 

25 With respect to each reporting period for an election, not 


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1 less than 80 percent of the total of contributions accepted 

2 by a candidate shall be from individuals— 

3 ‘‘(1) who are residents of the State involved or 

4 the State in which the Congressional district in5 volved is located, in the case of a candidate for the 

6 office of Senator or Representative in the Congress; 

7 or 

8 ‘‘(2) who are residents of the jurisdiction the 

9 candidate seeks to represent, in the case of a can10 didate for the office of Delegate or Resident Com11 missioner to the Congress.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

13 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 

14 respect to elections occurring after December 2006. 

Æ 


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