Calendar No. 312

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1593

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of

1971 to provide bipartisan campaign reform.

OCTOBER 8, 1999

Committee discharged; ordered to be placed on the

calendar
II

Calendar No. 312

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1593

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide bipartisan

campaign reform.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 16, 1999

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself and Mr. FEINGOLD) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

OCTOBER 8, 1999

Committee discharged; ordered to be placed on the calendar

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

provide bipartisan campaign reform.

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 ‘‘Bipartisan Campaign

5 Reform Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. SOFT MONEY OF POLITICAL PARTIES.

2 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

3 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

4 end the following:

5 ‘‘SEC. 323. SOFT MONEY OF POLITICAL PARTIES.

6 ‘‘(a) NATIONAL COMMITTEES.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A national committee of a

8 political party (including a national congressional

9 campaign committee of a political party) and any of10 ficers or agents of such party committees, shall not

11 solicit, receive, or direct to another person a con12 tribution, donation, or transfer of funds, or spend

13 any funds, that are not subject to the limitations,

14 prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act.

15 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall

16 apply to an entity that is directly or indirectly estab17 lished, financed, maintained, or controlled by a na18 tional committee of a political party (including a na19 tional congressional campaign committee of a polit20 ical party), or an entity acting on behalf of a na21 tional committee, and an officer or agent acting on

22 behalf of any such committee or entity.

23 ‘‘(b) STATE, DISTRICT, AND LOCAL COMMITTEES.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An amount that is ex25 pended or disbursed by a State, district, or local

26 committee of a political party (including an entity
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1 that is directly or indirectly established, financed,

2 maintained, or controlled by a State, district, or

3 local committee of a political party and an officer or

4 agent acting on behalf of such committee or entity)

5 for Federal election activity shall be made from

6 funds subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and re7 porting requirements of this Act.

8 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL ELECTION ACTIVITY.—

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘Federal

10 election activity’ means—

11 ‘‘(i) voter registration activity during

12 the period that begins on the date that is

13 120 days before the date a regularly sched14 uled Federal election is held and ends on

15 the date of the election;

16 ‘‘(ii) voter identification, get-out-the17 vote activity, or generic campaign activity

18 conducted in connection with an election in

19 which a candidate for Federal office ap20 pears on the ballot (regardless of whether

21 a candidate for State or local office also

22 appears on the ballot); and

23 ‘‘(iii) a communication that refers to a

24 clearly identified candidate for Federal of25 fice (regardless of whether a candidate for
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1 State or local office is also mentioned or

2 identified) and is made for the purpose of

3 influencing a Federal election (regardless

4 of whether the communication is express

5 advocacy).

6 ‘‘(B) EXCLUDED ACTIVITY.—The term

7 ‘Federal election activity’ does not include an

8 amount expended or disbursed by a State, dis9 trict, or local committee of a political party

10 for—

11 ‘‘(i) campaign activity conducted sole12 ly on behalf of a clearly identified can13 didate for State or local office, provided

14 the campaign activity is not a Federal elec15 tion activity described in subparagraph

16 (A);

17 ‘‘(ii) a contribution to a candidate for

18 State or local office, provided the contribu19 tion is not designated or used to pay for a

20 Federal election activity described in sub21 paragraph (A);

22 ‘‘(iii) the costs of a State, district, or

23 local political convention;

24 ‘‘(iv) the costs of grassroots campaign

25 materials, including buttons, bumper stick-
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1 ers, and yard signs, that name or depict

2 only a candidate for State or local office;

3 ‘‘(v) the non-Federal share of a State,

4 district, or local party committee’s admin5 istrative and overhead expenses (but not

6 including the compensation in any month

7 of an individual who spends more than 20

8 percent of the individual’s time on Federal

9 election activity) as determined by a regu10 lation promulgated by the Commission to

11 determine the non-Federal share of a

12 State, district, or local party committee’s

13 administrative and overhead expenses; and

14 ‘‘(vi) the cost of constructing or pur15 chasing an office facility or equipment for

16 a State, district or local committee.

17 ‘‘(C) GENERIC CAMPAIGN ACTIVITY.—The

18 term ‘generic campaign activity’ means an ac19 tivity that promotes a political party and does

20 not promote a candidate or non-Federal can21 didate.

22 ‘‘(c) FUNDRAISING COSTS.—An amount spent by a

23 national, State, district, or local committee of a political

24 party, by an entity that is established, financed, main25 tained, or controlled by a national, State, district, or local
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1 committee of a political party, or by an agent or officer

2 of any such committee or entity, to raise funds that are

3 used, in whole or in part, to pay the costs of a Federal

4 election activity shall be made from funds subject to the

5 limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements of

6 this Act.

7 ‘‘(d) TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS.—A national,

8 State, district, or local committee of a political party (in9 cluding a national congressional campaign committee of

10 a political party), an entity that is directly or indirectly

11 established, financed, maintained, or controlled by any

12 such national, State, district, or local committee or its

13 agent, and an officer or agent acting on behalf of any such

14 party committee or entity, shall not solicit any funds for,

15 or make or direct any donations to, an organization that

16 is described in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue

17 Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section

18 501(a) of such Code (or has submitted an application for

19 determination of tax exempt status under such section).

20 ‘‘(e) CANDIDATES.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A candidate, individual

22 holding Federal office, agent of a candidate or indi23 vidual holding Federal office, or an entity directly or

24 indirectly established, financed, maintained or con25 trolled by or acting on behalf of one or more can-
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1 didates or individuals holding Federal office, shall

2 not—

3 ‘‘(A) solicit, receive, direct, transfer, or

4 spend funds in connection with an election for

5 Federal office, including funds for any Federal

6 election activity, unless the funds are subject to

7 the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting re8 quirements of this Act; or

9 ‘‘(B) solicit, receive, direct, transfer, or

10 spend funds in connection with any election

11 other than an election for Federal office or dis12 burse funds in connection with such an election

13 unless the funds—

14 ‘‘(i) are not in excess of the amounts

15 permitted with respect to contributions to

16 candidates and political committees under

17 paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 315(a);

18 and

19 ‘‘(ii) are not from sources prohibited

20 by this Act from making contributions with

21 respect to an election for Federal office.

22 ‘‘(2) STATE LAW.—Paragraph (1) does not

23 apply to the solicitation, receipt, or spending of

24 funds by an individual who is a candidate for a

25 State or local office in connection with such election
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1 for State or local office if the solicitation, receipt,

2 or spending of funds is permitted under State law

3 for any activity other than a Federal election activ4 ity.

5 ‘‘(3) FUNDRAISING EVENTS.—Notwithstanding

6 paragraph (1), a candidate may attend, speak, or be

7 a featured guest at a fundraising event for a State,

8 district, or local committee of a political party.’’.

9 SEC. 3. INCREASED CONTRIBUTION LIMITS FOR STATE

10 COMMITTEES OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND

11 AGGREGATE CONTRIBUTION LIMIT FOR INDI12 VIDUALS.

13 (a) CONTRIBUTION LIMIT FOR STATE COMMITTEES

14 OF POLITICAL PARTIES.—Section 315(a)(1) of the Fed15 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(1))

16 is amended—

17 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘or’’ at

18 the end;

19 (2) in subparagraph (C)—

20 (A) by inserting ‘‘(other than a committee

21 described in subparagraph (D))’’ after ‘‘com22 mittee’’; and

23 (B) by striking the period at the end and

24 inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

25 (3) by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(D) to a political committee established and

2 maintained by a State committee of a political party

3 in any calendar year which, in the aggregate, exceed

4 $10,000.’’.

5 (b) AGGREGATE CONTRIBUTION LIMIT FOR INDI6 VIDUAL.—Section 315(a)(3) of the Federal Election Cam7 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(3)) is amended by

8 striking ‘‘$25,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$30,000’’.

9 SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

10 (a) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Section 304 of the

11 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434)

12 is amended by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘(d) POLITICAL COMMITTEES.—

14 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL AND CONGRESSIONAL POLIT15 ICAL COMMITTEES.—The national committee of a

16 political party, any national congressional campaign

17 committee of a political party, and any subordinate

18 committee of either, shall report all receipts and dis19 bursements during the reporting period.

20 ‘‘(2) OTHER POLITICAL COMMITTEES TO WHICH

21 SECTION 323 APPLIES.—In addition to any other re22 porting requirements applicable under this Act, a

23 political committee (not described in paragraph (1))

24 to which section 323(b)(1) applies shall report all re25 ceipts and disbursements made for activities de-
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1 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B)(v) of section

2 323(b)(2).

3 ‘‘(3) ITEMIZATION.—If a political committee

4 has receipts or disbursements to which this sub5 section applies from any person aggregating in ex6 cess of $200 for any calendar year, the political

7 committee shall separately itemize its reporting for

8 such person in the same manner as required in para9 graphs (3)(A), (5), and (6) of subsection (b).

10 ‘‘(4) REPORTING PERIODS.—Reports required

11 to be filed under this subsection shall be filed for the

12 same time periods required for political committees

13 under subsection (a).’’.

14 (b) BUILDING FUND EXCEPTION TO THE DEFINI15 TION OF CONTRIBUTION.—Section 301(8)(B) of the Fed16 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B))

17 is amended—

18 (1) by striking clause (viii); and

19 (2) by redesignating clauses (ix) through (xiv)

20 as clauses (viii) through (xiii), respectively.

21 SEC. 5. CODIFICATION OF BECK DECISION.

22 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29

23 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the fol24 lowing:
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1 ‘‘(h) NONUNION MEMBER PAYMENTS TO LABOR OR2 GANIZATION.—

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be an unfair labor

4 practice for any labor organization which receives a

5 payment from an employee pursuant to an agree6 ment that requires employees who are not members

7 of the organization to make payments to such orga8 nization in lieu of organization dues or fees not to

9 establish and implement the objection procedure de10 scribed in paragraph (2).

11 ‘‘(2) OBJECTION PROCEDURE.—The objection

12 procedure required under paragraph (1) shall meet

13 the following requirements:

14 ‘‘(A) The labor organization shall annually

15 provide to employees who are covered by such

16 agreement but are not members of the

17 organization—

18 ‘‘(i) reasonable personal notice of the

19 objection procedure, the employees eligible

20 to invoke the procedure, and the time,

21 place, and manner for filing an objection;

22 and

23 ‘‘(ii) reasonable opportunity to file an

24 objection to paying for organization ex25 penditures supporting political activities
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1 unrelated to collective bargaining, includ2 ing but not limited to the opportunity to

3 file such objection by mail.

4 ‘‘(B) If an employee who is not a member

5 of the labor organization files an objection

6 under the procedure in subparagraph (A), such

7 organization shall—

8 ‘‘(i) reduce the payments in lieu of or9 ganization dues or fees by such employee

10 by an amount which reasonably reflects the

11 ratio that the organization’s expenditures

12 supporting political activities unrelated to

13 collective bargaining bears to such organi14 zation’s total expenditures; and

15 ‘‘(ii) provide such employee with a

16 reasonable explanation of the organiza17 tion’s calculation of such reduction, includ18 ing calculating the amount of organization

19 expenditures supporting political activities

20 unrelated to collective bargaining.

21 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term

22 ‘expenditures supporting political activities unrelated

23 to collective bargaining’ means expenditures in con24 nection with a Federal, State, or local election or in
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1 connection with efforts to influence legislation unre2 lated to collective bargaining.’’.