I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5410 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit corporations which are subject to certain criminal or civil sanctions from engaging in campaign-related activity under such Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2010 

Mr. LIPINSKI 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 corporations which are subject to certain criminal or civil sanctions from engaging in campaign-related 

activity under such Act, 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 ‘‘Accountability in Corporate Political Activity Act of 

6 2010’’. 

7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds as follows: 


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1 (1) The Supreme Court decision in Citizens 

2 United v. FEC allows a corporation to have in3 creased access to the election process by permitting 

4 unlimited disbursements from a corporation’s gen5 eral treasury funds for the purpose of political advo6 cacy. 

7 (2) As established in the Citizens United case, 

8 the Court rejected the argument that political speech 

9 of corporations or other associations should be treat10 ed differently under the First Amendment simply be11 cause such associations are not ‘‘natural persons’’, 

12 thereby granting corporations the same First 

13 Amendment rights as individuals regarding political 

14 advocacy. 

15 (3) In the United States, 48 States prohibit in16 dividuals from voting while incarcerated, and 2 

17 States permanently bar individuals convicted of a 

18 felony from voting. 

19 (4) Unlike individuals, corporations are not cur20 rently subject to any form of disenfranchisement 

21 from the political process due to the conviction of a 

22 crime. 

23 (5) Corporations should be subject to similar 

24 regulations and punishments as individuals for vio25 lating the law and the public’s trust. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING CORPORATIONS SUBJECT TO CER2 TAIN CRIMINAL OR CIVIL SANCTIONS FROM 

3 ENGAGING IN CAMPAIGN-RELATED ACTIVITY. 

4 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 316 of the Federal Elec5 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441b) is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITING CORPORATIONS SUBJECT TO CER8 TAIN SANCTIONS FROM ENGAGING IN CAMPAIGN-RE9 LATED ACTIVITY.— 

10 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

11 a corporation described in subsection (a) may not 

12 engage in any campaign-related activity if the cor13 poration has been subject to any of the following 

14 sanctions: 

15 ‘‘(A) The imposition of any criminal pen16 alty under any Federal law. 

17 ‘‘(B) The imposition of a civil money pen18 alty under this Act. 

19 ‘‘(C) The imposition of a civil money pen20 alty under any other Federal law in an amount 

21 equal to or greater than $1,000,000. 

22 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION OF PROHIBITION.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall 

24 apply with respect to a corporation only during 

25 such period of time (if any) as may be deterVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:56 May 27, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5410.IH H5410

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1 mined appropriate by the court or other entity 

2 which imposes the sanction involved. 

3 ‘‘(B) STATEMENT IF PROHIBITION NOT AP4 PLIED.—If the court or other entity which im5 poses a sanction on a corporation determines 

6 that it is not appropriate to apply paragraph 

7 (1) to the corporation for any period of time, 

8 the court or other entity shall, at the time of 

9 imposing the sanction, publicly disseminate and 

10 file with the Commission a statement of the 

11 court’s or other entity’s reasons for not apply12 ing paragraph (1) to the corporation. 

13 ‘‘(3) CAMPAIGN-RELATED ACTIVITY DEFINED.— 

14 In this paragraph, the term ‘campaign-related activ15 ity’ means, with respect to a corporation— 

16 ‘‘(A) the making of a contribution by a 

17 separate segregated fund of the organization es18 tablished and administered pursuant to sub19 section (b)(2)(C); 

20 ‘‘(B) the disbursement of funds for an 

21 independent expenditure; or 

22 ‘‘(C) the disbursement of funds for an elec23 tioneering communication described in section 

24 304(f).’’. 


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1 (b) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION ON AVAIL2 ABILITY OF SANCTION.—Upon the enactment of this Act, 

3 the Federal Election Commission shall disseminate infor4 mation to the public, and shall notify each State, regard5 ing the availability of the prohibition described in section 

6 316(d) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 

7 added by subsection (a), as a sanction applicable to cor8 porations subject to any of the sanctions described in sec9 tion 316(d)(1) of such Act. 

10 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

11 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to penalties im12 posed on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

13 SEC. 3. SEVERABILITY. 

14 If any provision of this Act or amendment made by 

15 this Act, or the application of a provision or amendment 

16 to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu17 tional, the remainder of this Act and amendments made 

18 by this Act, and the application of the provisions and 

19 amendment to any person or circumstance, shall not be 

20 affected by the holding. 

Æ 


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