II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1681

To shorten the campaign period for congressional elections.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 26, 1998

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

to the Committee on Rules and Administration

A BILL

To shorten the campaign period for congressional elections.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. VOLUNTARY LIMITS ON CAMPAIGN ADVERTIS4 ING.

5 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

6 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

7 end the following:

8 ‘‘SEC. 324. VOLUNTARY ADVERTISING LIMITS AND BENE9 FITS FOR ELIGIBLE CONGRESSIONAL CAN10 DIDATES.

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section—
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1 ‘‘(1) CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING.—The term ‘cam2 paign advertising’ means a disbursement for any

3 communication through any broadcasting station.

4 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE.—

5 The term ‘eligible congressional candidate’ means a

6 candidate for nomination to, or election to, the Sen7 ate or the House of Representatives that the Com8 mission has certified under subsection (d) as an eli9 gible candidate for a primary or general election.

10 ‘‘(3) GENERAL ELECTION PERIOD.—The term

11 ‘general election period’ means the time period be12 ginning on the date that is 60 days before the date

13 of the general election for the office to which the

14 candidate is seeking election and ending on the date

15 of the general election.

16 ‘‘(4) PRIMARY ELECTION PERIOD.—The term

17 ‘primary election period’ means the time period be18 ginning on the date that is 30 days before the date

19 of the primary election for the office to which the

20 candidate is seeking election and ending on the date

21 of the primary election.

22 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A candidate for election, or

24 nomination for election, to the Senate or House of

25 Representatives is an eligible candidate—
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1 ‘‘(A) for purposes of a primary election, if

2 the Commission certifies that the candidate has

3 met the primary election filing requirement of

4 paragraph (2); and

5 ‘‘(B) for purposes of a general election, if

6 the Commission certifies that the candidate has

7 met the general election filing requirement of

8 paragraph (3).

9 ‘‘(2) PRIMARY ELECTION FILING REQUIRE10 MENT.—

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The requirement of

12 this paragraph is met if the candidate files with

13 the Commission a declaration that—

14 ‘‘(i) the candidate and the candidate’s

15 authorized committees will not participate

16 in campaign advertising except during the

17 primary election period; and

18 ‘‘(ii) at least 1 other candidate has

19 qualified for the same primary election bal20 lot under the law of the candidate’s State.

21 ‘‘(B) DEADLINE FOR FILING PRIMARY

22 ELECTION DECLARATION.—The declaration

23 under subparagraph (A) shall be filed not later

24 than the date on which the candidate files, with
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1 the appropriate State officer, as a candidate for

2 the primary election.

3 ‘‘(3) GENERAL ELECTION FILING REQUIRE4 MENT.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The requirement of

6 this paragraph is met if the candidate files with

7 the Commission a declaration that the can8 didate and the candidate’s authorized commit9 tees will not participate in campaign advertising

10 except during the general election period.

11 ‘‘(B) DEADLINE FOR FILING GENERAL

12 ELECTION DECLARATION.—The declaration

13 under subparagraph (A) shall be filed not later

14 than 7 days after the earlier of—

15 ‘‘(i) the date on which the candidate

16 qualifies for the general election ballot

17 under State law; or

18 ‘‘(ii) if under State law, a primary or

19 runoff election to qualify for the general

20 election ballot occurs after September 1,

21 the date on which the candidate wins the

22 primary or runoff election.

23 ‘‘(c) BENEFITS FOR ELIGIBLE CONGRESSIONAL CAN24 DIDATES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If an eligible congressional

2 candidate has an opponent who has qualified for the

3 ballot, the candidate shall be entitled to the broad4 cast media rates provided under section 315(b)(2) of

5 the Communications Act of 1934.

6 ‘‘(2) USE OF BENEFIT.—An eligible congres7 sional candidate that uses the broadcast media rates

8 under paragraph (1) for broadcast time shall use the

9 time for a communication that is not less than 60

10 seconds in length.

11 ‘‘(d) CERTIFICATION.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall de13 termine whether a candidate has met the require14 ments of this section and, based on the determina15 tion, issue a certification stating whether the can16 didate is an eligible candidate for the applicable elec17 tion entitled to receive benefits under this section.

18 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—

19 ‘‘(A) PRIMARY ELECTION.—Not later than

20 7 business days after a candidate files a dec21 laration under subsection (b)(2), the Commis22 sion shall determine whether the candidate

23 meets the eligibility requirements of such sub24 section and, if so, certify that the candidate is
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1 an eligible candidate for the primary election

2 entitled to receive benefits under this section.

3 ‘‘(B) GENERAL ELECTION.—Not later than

4 7 business days after a candidate files a dec5 laration under subsection (b)(3), the Commis6 sion shall determine whether the candidate

7 meets the eligibility requirement of such sub8 section and, if so, certify that the candidate is

9 an eligible candidate for the general election en10 titled to receive benefits under this title.

11 ‘‘(e) REVOCATION OF CERTIFICATION.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall re13 voke a certification under subsection (d), based on

14 information submitted in such form and manner as

15 the Commission may require or on information that

16 comes to the Commission by other means, if the

17 Commission determines that a candidate—

18 ‘‘(A) violates any requirement of this sec19 tion; or

20 ‘‘(B) fails to continue to meet the require21 ments of this section.

22 ‘‘(2) NO FURTHER BENEFITS.—A candidate

23 whose certification has been revoked shall be ineli24 gible for any further benefits made available under

25 this section for the duration of the election cycle.
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1 ‘‘(f) DETERMINATIONS BY COMMISSION.—A deter2 mination (including a certification under subsection (d))

3 made by the Commission under this title shall be final,

4 except to the extent that the determination is subject to

5 judicial review.

6 ‘‘(g) PENALTY FOR MISUSE OF BENEFITS.—If the

7 Commission revokes the certification of an eligible con8 gressional candidate, the Commission shall so notify the

9 candidate, and the candidate shall pay to the provider of

10 any benefit received by the candidate under this section

11 an amount equal to the difference between the amount the

12 candidate paid for such benefit and the amount the can13 didate would have paid for the benefit if the candidate

14 were not an eligible congressional candidate.’’.

15 SEC. 2. BROADCAST RATES AND PREEMPTION.

16 (a) BROADCAST RATES.—Section 315(b) of the Com17 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315(b)) is amended—

18 (1) by striking ‘‘(b) The charges’’ and inserting

19 the following:

20 ‘‘(b) BROADCAST MEDIA RATES.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The charges’’;

22 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as

23 subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and adjust24 ing the margins accordingly;
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1 (3) in paragraph (1)(A) (as redesignated by

2 paragraph (2))—

3 (A) by striking ‘‘forty-five’’ and inserting

4 ‘‘30’’; and

5 (B) by striking ‘‘lowest unit charge of the

6 station for the same class and amount of time

7 for the same period’’ and inserting ‘‘lowest

8 charge of the station for the same amount of

9 time for the same period on the same date’’;

10 and

11 (4) by adding at the end the following:

12 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE CONGRESSIONAL CAN13 DIDATES.—

14 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE CONGRESSIONAL CAN15 DIDATES.—In the case of an eligible congres16 sional candidate (as defined in section 324 of

17 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971)

18 the charges for the use of a television broad19 casting station during the 30-day period and

20 60-day period referred to in paragraph (1)(A)

21 shall not exceed 50 percent of the lowest charge

22 described in paragraph (1)(A).

23 ‘‘(B) NONELIGIBLE CONGRESSIONAL CAN24 DIDATES.—In the case of a candidate for Fed25 eral office who is not an eligible congressional
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1 candidate (as so defined), paragraph (1)(A)

2 shall not apply.’’.

3 (b) PREEMPTION; ACCESS.—Section 315 of the Com4 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 315) is amended—

5 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d), as

6 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the follow8 ing:

9 ‘‘(c) PREEMPTION.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para11 graph (2), a licensee shall not preempt the use, dur12 ing any period specified in subsection (b)(1)(A), of

13 a broadcasting station by an eligible congressional

14 candidate (as defined in section 324 of the Federal

15 Election Campaign Act of 1971) that has purchased

16 and paid for such use pursuant to subsection (b)(2).

17 ‘‘(2) CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND CONTROL OF LI18 CENSEE.—If a program to be broadcast by a broad19 casting station is preempted because of cir20 cumstances beyond the control of the broadcasting

21 station, any candidate advertising spot scheduled to

22 be broadcast during that program may also be pre23 empted.’’.
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1 (c) REVOCATION OF LICENSE FOR FAILURE TO PER2 MIT ACCESS.—Section 312(a)(7) of the Communications

3 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 312(a)(7)) is amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘or repeated’’;

5 (2) by inserting ‘‘or cable system’’ after ‘‘broad6 casting station’’; and

7 (3) by striking ‘‘his candidacy’’ and inserting

8 ‘‘the candidacy of the candidate, under the same

9 terms, conditions, and business practices as apply to

10 the most favored advertiser of the licensee’’.

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

12 this section shall take effect on the date that is 60 days

13 after the date of enactment of this Act.

Æ