II

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

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’’.

6 SEC. 2. SOFT MONEY OF POLITICAL PARTIES.

7 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

8 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

9 end the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 323. SOFT MONEY OF POLITICAL PARTIES.

2 ‘‘(a) NATIONAL COMMITTEES.—

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

4 political party (including a national congressional

5 campaign committee of a political party) and any of6 ficers or agents of such party committees, shall not

7 solicit, receive, or direct to another person a con8 tribution, donation, or transfer of funds, or spend

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

10 prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act.

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

12 apply to an entity that is directly or indirectly estab13 lished, financed, maintained, or controlled by a na14 tional committee of a political party (including a na15 tional congressional campaign committee of a polit16 ical party), or an entity acting on behalf of a na17 tional committee, and an officer or agent acting on

18 behalf of any such committee or entity.

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

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An amount that is ex21 pended or disbursed by a State, district, or local

22 committee of a political party (including an entity

23 that is directly or indirectly established, financed,

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

25 local committee of a political party and an officer or

26 agent acting on behalf of such committee or entity)
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1 for Federal election activity shall be made from

2 funds subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and re3 porting requirements of this Act.

4 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL ELECTION ACTIVITY.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘Federal

6 election activity’ means—

7 ‘‘(i) voter registration activity during

8 the period that begins on the date that is

9 120 days before the date a regularly sched10 uled Federal election is held and ends on

11 the date of the election;

12 ‘‘(ii) voter identification, get-out-the13 vote activity, or generic campaign activity

14 conducted in connection with an election in

15 which a candidate for Federal office ap16 pears on the ballot (regardless of whether

17 a candidate for State or local office also

18 appears on the ballot); and

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

20 clearly identified candidate for Federal of21 fice (regardless of whether a candidate for

22 State or local office is also mentioned or

23 identified) and is made for the purpose of

24 influencing a Federal election (regardless
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1 of whether the communication is express

2 advocacy).

3 ‘‘(B) EXCLUDED ACTIVITY.—The term

4 ‘Federal election activity’ does not include an

5 amount expended or disbursed by a State, dis6 trict, or local committee of a political party

7 for—

8 ‘‘(i) campaign activity conducted sole9 ly on behalf of a clearly identified can10 didate for State or local office, provided

11 the campaign activity is not a Federal elec12 tion activity described in subparagraph

13 (A);

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

15 State or local office, provided the contribu16 tion is not designated or used to pay for a

17 Federal election activity described in sub18 paragraph (A);

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

20 local political convention;

21 ‘‘(iv) the costs of grassroots campaign

22 materials, including buttons, bumper stick23 ers, and yard signs, that name or depict

24 only a candidate for State or local office;
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1 ‘‘(v) the non-Federal share of a State,

2 district, or local party committee’s admin3 istrative and overhead expenses (but not

4 including the compensation in any month

5 of an individual who spends more than 20

6 percent of the individual’s time on Federal

7 election activity) as determined by a regu8 lation promulgated by the Commission to

9 determine the non-Federal share of a

10 State, district, or local party committee’s

11 administrative and overhead expenses; and

12 ‘‘(vi) the cost of constructing or pur13 chasing an office facility or equipment for

14 a State, district or local committee.

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

16 term ‘generic campaign activity’ means an ac17 tivity that promotes a political party and does

18 not promote a candidate or non-Federal can19 didate.

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

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

22 party, by an entity that is established, financed, main23 tained, or controlled by a national, State, district, or local

24 committee of a political party, or by an agent or officer

25 of any such committee or entity, to raise funds that are
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1 used, in whole or in part, to pay the costs of a Federal

2 election activity shall be made from funds subject to the

3 limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements of

4 this Act.

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

6 State, district, or local committee of a political party (in7 cluding a national congressional campaign committee of

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

9 established, financed, maintained, or controlled by any

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

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

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

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

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

15 Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section

16 501(a) of such Code (or has submitted an application for

17 determination of tax exempt status under such section).

18 ‘‘(e) CANDIDATES.—

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

20 holding Federal office, agent of a candidate or indi21 vidual holding Federal office, or an entity directly or

22 indirectly established, financed, maintained or con23 trolled by or acting on behalf of one or more can24 didates or individuals holding Federal office, shall

25 not—
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1 ‘‘(A) solicit, receive, direct, transfer, or

2 spend funds in connection with an election for

3 Federal office, including funds for any Federal

4 election activity, unless the funds are subject to

5 the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting re6 quirements of this Act; or

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

8 spend funds in connection with any election

9 other than an election for Federal office or dis10 burse funds in connection with such an election

11 unless the funds—

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

13 permitted with respect to contributions to

14 candidates and political committees under

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

16 and

17 ‘‘(ii) are not from sources prohibited

18 by this Act from making contributions with

19 respect to an election for Federal office.

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

21 apply to the solicitation, receipt, or spending of

22 funds by an individual who is a candidate for a

23 State or local office in connection with such election

24 for State or local office if the solicitation, receipt,

25 or spending of funds is permitted under State law
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1 for any activity other than a Federal election activ2 ity.

3 ‘‘(3) FUNDRAISING EVENTS.—Notwithstanding

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

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

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

7 SEC. 3. INCREASED CONTRIBUTION LIMITS FOR STATE

8 COMMITTEES OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND

9 AGGREGATE CONTRIBUTION LIMIT FOR INDI10 VIDUALS.

11 (a) CONTRIBUTION LIMIT FOR STATE COMMITTEES

12 OF POLITICAL PARTIES.—Section 315(a)(1) of the Fed13 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(1))

14 is amended—

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

16 the end;

17 (2) in subparagraph (C)—

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

19 described in subparagraph (D))’’ after ‘‘com20 mittee’’; and

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

22 inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

23 (3) by adding at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(D) to a political committee established and

25 maintained by a State committee of a political party
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1 in any calendar year which, in the aggregate, exceed

2 $10,000.’’.

3 (b) AGGREGATE CONTRIBUTION LIMIT FOR INDI4 VIDUAL.—Section 315(a)(3) of the Federal Election Cam5 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(3)) is amended by

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

7 SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

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

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

10 is amended by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘(d) POLITICAL COMMITTEES.—

12 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL AND CONGRESSIONAL POLIT13 ICAL COMMITTEES.—The national committee of a

14 political party, any national congressional campaign

15 committee of a political party, and any subordinate

16 committee of either, shall report all receipts and dis17 bursements during the reporting period.

18 ‘‘(2) OTHER POLITICAL COMMITTEES TO WHICH

19 SECTION 323 APPLIES.—In addition to any other re20 porting requirements applicable under this Act, a

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

22 to which section 323(b)(1) applies shall report all re23 ceipts and disbursements made for activities de24 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B)(v) of section

25 323(b)(2).
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1 ‘‘(3) ITEMIZATION.—If a political committee

2 has receipts or disbursements to which this sub3 section applies from any person aggregating in ex4 cess of $200 for any calendar year, the political

5 committee shall separately itemize its reporting for

6 such person in the same manner as required in para7 graphs (3)(A), (5), and (6) of subsection (b).

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

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

10 same time periods required for political committees

11 under subsection (a).’’.

12 (b) BUILDING FUND EXCEPTION TO THE DEFINI13 TION OF CONTRIBUTION.—Section 301(8)(B) of the Fed14 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B))

15 is amended—

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

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

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

19 SEC. 5. CODIFICATION OF BECK DECISION.

20 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29

21 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing:

23 ‘‘(h) NONUNION MEMBER PAYMENTS TO LABOR OR24 GANIZATION.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be an unfair labor

2 practice for any labor organization which receives a

3 payment from an employee pursuant to an agree4 ment that requires employees who are not members

5 of the organization to make payments to such orga6 nization in lieu of organization dues or fees not to

7 establish and implement the objection procedure de8 scribed in paragraph (2).

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

10 procedure required under paragraph (1) shall meet

11 the following requirements:

12 ‘‘(A) The labor organization shall annually

13 provide to employees who are covered by such

14 agreement but are not members of the

15 organization—

16 ‘‘(i) reasonable personal notice of the

17 objection procedure, the employees eligible

18 to invoke the procedure, and the time,

19 place, and manner for filing an objection;

20 and

21 ‘‘(ii) reasonable opportunity to file an

22 objection to paying for organization ex23 penditures supporting political activities

24 unrelated to collective bargaining, includ-
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1 ing but not limited to the opportunity to

2 file such objection by mail.

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

4 of the labor organization files an objection

5 under the procedure in subparagraph (A), such

6 organization shall—

7 ‘‘(i) reduce the payments in lieu of or8 ganization dues or fees by such employee

9 by an amount which reasonably reflects the

10 ratio that the organization’s expenditures

11 supporting political activities unrelated to

12 collective bargaining bears to such organi13 zation’s total expenditures; and

14 ‘‘(ii) provide such employee with a

15 reasonable explanation of the organiza16 tion’s calculation of such reduction, includ17 ing calculating the amount of organization

18 expenditures supporting political activities

19 unrelated to collective bargaining.

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

21 ‘expenditures supporting political activities unrelated

22 to collective bargaining’ means expenditures in con23 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.’’.

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