I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1613 

To direct the Federal Election Commission to carry out a voucher pilot 

program under which individuals may use vouchers to make small dollar 

contributions to qualified candidates for election for the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2019 

Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Election Commission to carry out 

a voucher pilot program under which individuals may 

use vouchers to make small dollar contributions to qualified candidates for election for the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the 

Congress, 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 ‘‘Democracy Dollars 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Federal Election Com3 mission (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commis4 sion’’) shall establish a pilot program under which the 

5 Commission shall select 3 eligible States to operate a 

6 voucher pilot program which is described in section 3 dur7 ing the program operation period. 

8 (b) ELIGIBILITY OF STATES.—A State is eligible to 

9 be selected to operate a voucher pilot program under this 

10 Act if, not later than 180 days after the beginning of the 

11 program application period, the State submits to the Com12 mission an application containing— 

13 (1) information and assurances that the State 

14 will operate a voucher program which contains the 

15 elements described in section 3(a); 

16 (2) information and assurances that the State 

17 will establish fraud prevention mechanisms described 

18 in section 3(b); 

19 (3) information and assurances that the State 

20 will establish a commission to oversee and implement 

21 the program as described in section 3(c); 

22 (4) information and assurances that the State 

23 will carry out a public information campaign as de24 scribed in section 3(d); 

25 (5) information and assurances that the State 

26 will submit reports as required under section 4; and 


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1 (6) such other information and assurances as 

2 the Commission may require. 

3 (c) SELECTION OF PARTICIPATING STATES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

5 the beginning of the program application period, the 

6 Commission shall select the 3 States which will oper7 ate voucher pilot programs under this Act. 

8 (2) CRITERIA.—In selecting States for the oper9 ation of the voucher pilot programs under this Act, 

10 the Commission shall apply such criteria and metrics 

11 as the Commission considers appropriate to deter12 mine the ability of a State to operate the program 

13 successfully, and shall attempt to select States in a 

14 variety of geographic regions and with a variety of 

15 political party preferences. 

16 (3) NO SUPERMAJORITY REQUIRED FOR SELEC17 TION.—The selection of States by the Commission 

18 under this subsection shall require the approval of 

19 only half of the Members of the Commission. 

20 (d) DUTIES OF STATES DURING PROGRAM PREPARA21 TION PERIOD.—During the program preparation period, 

22 each State selected to operate a voucher pilot program 

23 under this Act shall take such actions as may be necessary 

24 to ensure that the State will be ready to operate the pro25 gram during the program operation period, and shall comVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1613.IH H1613

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1 plete such actions not later than 90 days before the begin2 ning of the program operation period. 

3 (e) TERMINATION.—Each voucher pilot program 

4 under this Act shall terminate as of the first day after 

5 the program operation period. 

6 (f) REIMBURSEMENT OF COSTS.—Upon receiving the 

7 report submitted by a State under section 4(a) with re8 spect to an election cycle, the Commission shall transmit 

9 a payment to the State in an amount equal to the reason10 able costs incurred by the State in operating the voucher 

11 pilot program under this Act during the cycle. 

12 SEC. 3. VOUCHER PROGRAM DESCRIBED. 

13 (a) GENERAL ELEMENTS OF PROGRAM.— 

14 (1) ELEMENTS DESCRIBED.—The elements of a 

15 voucher pilot program operated by a State under 

16 this Act are as follows: 

17 (A) The State shall provide each qualified 

18 individual upon the individual’s request with a 

19 voucher worth $25 to be known as a ‘‘My Voice 

20 Voucher’’ during the election cycle which will be 

21 assigned a routing number and which at the op22 tion of the individual will be provided in either 

23 paper or electronic form. 

24 (B) Using the routing number assigned to 

25 the My Voice Voucher, the individual may subVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1613.IH H1613

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1 mit the My Voice Voucher in either electronic 

2 or paper form to qualified candidates for elec3 tion for the office of Representative in, or Dele4 gate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress 

5 and allocate such portion of the value of the My 

6 Voice Voucher in increments of $5 as the indi7 vidual may select to any such candidate. 

8 (C) If the candidate transmits the My 

9 Voice Voucher to the Commission, the Commis10 sion shall pay the candidate the portion of the 

11 value of the My Voice Voucher that the indi12 vidual allocated to the candidate, which shall be 

13 considered a contribution by the individual to 

14 the candidate for purposes of the Federal Elec15 tion Campaign Act of 1971. 

16 (2) DESIGNATION OF QUALIFIED INDIVID17 UALS.—For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), a ‘‘quali18 fied individual’’ with respect to a State means an in19 dividual— 

20 (A) who is a resident of the State; 

21 (B) who will be of voting age as of the 

22 date of the election for the candidate to whom 

23 the individual submits a My Voice Voucher; and 


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1 (C) who is not prohibited under Federal 

2 law from making contributions to candidates 

3 for election for Federal office. 

4 (3) TREATMENT AS CONTRIBUTION TO CAN5 DIDATE.—For purposes of the Federal Election 

6 Campaign Act of 1971, the submission of a My 

7 Voice Voucher to a candidate by an individual shall 

8 be treated as a contribution to the candidate by the 

9 individual in the amount of the portion of the value 

10 of the Voucher that the individual allocated to the 

11 candidate. 

12 (b) FRAUD PREVENTION MECHANISM.—In addition 

13 to the elements described in subsection (a), a State oper14 ating a voucher pilot program under this Act shall permit 

15 an individual to revoke a My Voice Voucher not later than 

16 2 days after submitting the My Voice Voucher to a can17 didate. 

18 (c) OVERSIGHT COMMISSION.—In addition to the ele19 ments described in subsection (a), a State operating a 

20 voucher pilot program under this Act shall establish a 

21 commission or designate an existing entity to oversee and 

22 implement the program in the State, except that no such 

23 commission or entity may be comprised of elected officials. 

24 (d) PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN.—In addition 

25 to the elements described in subsection (a), a State operVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1613.IH H1613

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1 ating a voucher pilot program under this Act shall carry 

2 out a public information campaign to disseminate aware3 ness of the program among qualified individuals. 

4 SEC. 4. REPORTS. 

5 (a) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Not later than 6 

6 months after the first election cycle of the program oper7 ation period, a State which operates a voucher pilot pro8 gram under this Act shall submit a report to the Commis9 sion analyzing the operation and effectiveness of the pro10 gram during the cycle and including such other informa11 tion as the Commission may require. 

12 (b) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 

13 the end of the program operation period, the State shall 

14 submit a final report to the Commission analyzing the op15 eration and effectiveness of the program and including 

16 such other information as the Commission may require. 

17 (c) REPORT BY COMMISSION.—Not later than the 

18 end of the first election cycle which begins after the pro19 gram operation period, the Commission shall submit a re20 port to Congress which summarizes and analyzes the re21 sults of the voucher pilot program, and shall include in 

22 the report such recommendations as the Commission con23 siders appropriate regarding the expansion of the pilot 

24 program to all States and territories, along with such 


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1 other recommendations and other information as the Com2 mission considers appropriate. 

3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

4 (a) ELECTION CYCLE.—In this Act, the term ‘‘elec5 tion cycle’’ means the period beginning on the day after 

6 the date of the most recent regularly scheduled general 

7 election for Federal office and ending on the date of the 

8 next regularly scheduled general election for Federal of9 fice. 

10 (b) DEFINITIONS RELATING TO PERIODS.—In this 

11 Act, the following definitions apply: 

12 (1) PROGRAM APPLICATION PERIOD.—The term 

13 ‘‘program application period’’ means the first elec14 tion cycle which begins after the date of the enact15 ment of this Act. 

16 (2) PROGRAM PREPARATION PERIOD.—The 

17 term ‘‘program preparation period’’ means the first 

18 election cycle which begins after the program appli19 cation period. 

20 (3) PROGRAM OPERATION PERIOD.—The term 

21 ‘‘program operation period’’ means the first 2 elec22 tion cycles which begin after the program prepara23 tion period. 

Æ 


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