I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5409 

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

authorized committee or leadership PAC of a candidate for election 

for Federal office to disburse all of the funds of the committee or 

PAC which remain unexpended after the date of the election, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 23, 2018 

Ms. CASTOR of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee 

on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 

require each authorized committee or leadership PAC 

of a candidate for election for Federal office to disburse 

all of the funds of the committee or PAC which remain 

unexpended after the date of the election, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honest Elections and 

3 Campaign, No Gain Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REQUIRING AUTHORIZED COMMITTEES OF CAN5 DIDATES TO DISBURSE FUNDS REMAINING 

6 UNEXPENDED AFTER DATE OF ELECTION. 

7 (a) REQUIRING DISBURSEMENT.—Title III of the 

8 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 

9 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 303 the fol10 lowing new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 303A. DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS REMAINING UNEX12 PENDED AFTER DATE OF ELECTION. 

13 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING DISBURSEMENT.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each authorized committee 

15 or leadership PAC of a candidate shall, in accord16 ance with subsection (b) and prior to the expiration 

17 of the applicable disbursement period, disburse any 

18 funds of the committee or PAC which remain unex19 pended as of the date of the election for the office 

20 sought by the candidate. 

21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CANDIDATES IN NEXT

22 ELECTION.—Paragraph (1) does not apply to the 

23 committee or PAC of a candidate who, prior to the 

24 first day of the applicable disbursement period, pro25 vides the appropriate State election official with the 

26 information and fees (if any) required under State 


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1 law for the individual to qualify as a candidate for 

2 the next election for the office sought by the can3 didate or the next election for another Federal of4 fice. 

5 ‘‘(3) APPLICABLE DISBURSEMENT PERIOD.—In 

6 this subsection, the ‘applicable disbursement period’ 

7 is, with respect to a candidate seeking election for 

8 an office, the 2-year period which begins on the day 

9 after the latest date on which an individual may pro10 vide the appropriate State election official with the 

11 information and fees (if any) required under State 

12 law for the individual to qualify as a candidate for 

13 the next election for such office. 

14 ‘‘(b) RULES FOR DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) PAYMENT OF OBLIGATIONS.—In carrying 

16 out subsection (a), an authorized committee or lead17 ership PAC shall first disburse funds to pay obliga18 tions incurred in connection with the operation of 

19 the committee. 

20 ‘‘(2) OTHER PERMITTED DISBURSEMENTS.—If, 

21 after disbursing all of the funds necessary to pay ob22 ligations under paragraph (1), funds of a committee 

23 or PAC remain unexpended, the committee or PAC 

24 may disburse the funds for any of the following purVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:51 Mar 28, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5409.IH H5409

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1 poses, in such manner and combination as the com2 mittee or PAC considers appropriate: 

3 ‘‘(A) To return to any person a contribu4 tion the person made to the committee or PAC. 

5 ‘‘(B) To make a contribution to an organi6 zation described in section 170(c) of the Inter7 nal Revenue Code of 1986. 

8 ‘‘(C) To make a transfer without limitation 

9 to a national, State, or local committee of a po10 litical party. 

11 ‘‘(c) RESTRICTIONS ON DISBURSEMENT TO REL12 ATIVES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) RESTRICTION.—In disbursing funds pur14 suant to the requirements of this section, an author15 ized committee or leadership PAC may not disburse 

16 funds to a relative of the candidate unless the funds 

17 are disbursed to pay an obligation of the committee 

18 as described in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) 

19 which is reported by the committee or PAC as a dis20 bursement under section 304(b)(5) or which would 

21 be so reported if the amount of the disbursement 

22 were in excess of $200. 

23 ‘‘(2) RELATIVE DEFINED.—In this subsection, 

24 the term ‘relative’ means, with respect to a can25 didate, an individual who is related to the candidate 


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1 as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, 

2 uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, 

3 wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daugh4 ter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, 

5 stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, step6 sister, half brother, or half sister. 

7 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘leader8 ship PAC’ has the meaning given such term in section 

9 304(i)(8)(B).’’. 

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO PER11 MITTED USES OF CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 313(a) of 

12 such Act (52 U.S.C. 30114(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘A 

13 contribution’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to section 303A, a 

14 contribution’’. 

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall apply with respect to the regularly sched17 uled general election for Federal office held in November 

18 2018 and each succeeding election for Federal office. 

19 SEC. 3. REQUIRING FORMER CANDIDATES SERVING AS 

20 REGISTERED LOBBYISTS TO CERTIFY COM21 PLIANCE WITH DISBURSEMENT REQUIRE22 MENTS. 

23 (a) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—Section 4(b) 

24 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

25 1603(b)) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

2 (5); 

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of para4 graph (6) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (3) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol6 lowing new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(7) in the case of an individual who was a can8 didate for election for Federal office, a certification 

9 (under penalty of perjury) that each authorized com10 mittee and leadership PAC (as defined in section 

11 304(i)(8)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

12 of 1971) of the individual is in compliance with sec13 tion 303A of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

14 1971 (relating to the disbursement of funds of the 

15 committee or leadership PAC which remain unex16 pended after the date of the election).’’. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

18 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to registration 

19 statements filed under section 4(a) of the Lobbying Dis20 closure Act on or after the date of the regularly scheduled 

21 general election for Federal office held in November 2018. 

Æ 


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