I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5641 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to clarify the treatment 

of coordinated expenditures as contributions to candidates, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) 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 

clarify the treatment of coordinated expenditures as contributions to candidates, 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. CLARIFICATION OF TREATMENT OF COORDI4 NATED EXPENDITURES AS CONTRIBUTIONS 

5 TO CANDIDATES. 

6 (a) TREATMENT AS CONTRIBUTION TO CAN7 DIDATE.—Section 301(8)(A) of the Federal Election Cam8 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 30101(8)(A)) is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of clause (i); 


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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of clause 

2 (ii) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

4 clause: 

5 ‘‘(iii) any payment made by any person 

6 (other than a candidate, an authorized com7 mittee of a candidate, or a political committee 

8 of a political party) for a coordinated expendi9 ture (as such term is defined in section 324) 

10 which is not otherwise treated as a contribution 

11 under clause (i) or clause (ii).’’. 

12 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 324 of such Act (2 

13 U.S.C. 30126) is amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 324. PAYMENTS FOR COORDINATED EXPENDITURES. 

15 ‘‘(a) COORDINATED EXPENDITURES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 

17 301(8)(A)(iii), the term ‘coordinated expenditure’ 

18 means— 

19 ‘‘(A) any expenditure, including a payment 

20 for a covered communication described in sub21 section (d), which is made in cooperation, con22 sultation, or concert with, or at the request or 

23 suggestion of, a candidate, an authorized com24 mittee of a candidate, a political committee of 


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1 a political party, or agents of the candidate or 

2 committee, as provided in subsection (b); or 

3 ‘‘(B) any payment for any communication 

4 which republishes, disseminates, or distributes, 

5 in whole or in part, any broadcast or any writ6 ten, graphic, or other form of campaign mate7 rial prepared by the candidate or committee or 

8 by agents of the candidate or committee. 

9 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR PAYMENTS FOR CERTAIN

10 COMMUNICATIONS.—A payment for a communication 

11 (including a covered communication described in 

12 subsection (d) shall not be treated as a coordinated 

13 expenditure under this subsection if— 

14 ‘‘(A) the communication appears in a news 

15 story, commentary, or editorial distributed 

16 through the facilities of any broadcasting sta17 tion, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical 

18 publication, unless such facilities are owned or 

19 controlled by any political party, political com20 mittee, or candidate; or 

21 ‘‘(B) the communication constitutes a can22 didate debate or forum conducted pursuant to 

23 regulations adopted by the Commission pursu24 ant to section 304(f)(3)(B)(iii), or which solely 

25 promotes such a debate or forum and is made 


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1 by or on behalf of the person sponsoring the de2 bate or forum. 

3 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION DESCRIBED.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec5 tion, a payment is made ‘in cooperation, consulta6 tion, or concert with, or at the request or suggestion 

7 of,’ a candidate, an authorized committee of a can8 didate, a political committee of a political party, or 

9 agents of the candidate or committee, if the payment 

10 is not made entirely independently of the candidate, 

11 committee, or agents, including a payment which is 

12 made pursuant to any general or particular under13 standing, or more than incidental communication 

14 with, the candidate, committee, or agents about the 

15 payment. 

16 ‘‘(2) NO FINDING OF COORDINATION BASED

17 SOLELY ON SHARING OF INFORMATION REGARDING

18 LEGISLATIVE OR POLICY POSITION.—For purposes 

19 of this section, a payment shall not be considered to 

20 be made by a person in cooperation, consultation, or 

21 concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a 

22 candidate or committee, solely on the grounds that 

23 the person or the person’s agent engaged in discus24 sions with the candidate or committee, or with 

25 agents of the candidate or committee, regarding that 


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1 person’s position on a legislative or policy matter 

2 (including urging the candidate or committee to 

3 adopt that person’s position), so long as there is no 

4 discussion between the person and the candidate or 

5 committee, or agents of the candidate or committee, 

6 regarding the candidate’s or committee’s campaign 

7 advertising, message, strategy, policy, polling, alloca8 tion of resources, fundraising, or campaign oper9 ations. 

10 ‘‘(3) NO EFFECT ON PARTY COORDINATION

11 STANDARD.—Nothing in this section shall be con12 strued to affect the determination of coordination 

13 between a candidate and a political committee of a 

14 political party for purposes of section 315(d). 

15 ‘‘(4) NO SAFE HARBOR FOR USE OF FIRE16 WALL.—A person shall be determined to have made 

17 a payment in cooperation, consultation, or concert 

18 with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate 

19 or committee, in accordance with this section with20 out regard to whether or not the person established 

21 and used a firewall or similar procedures to restrict 

22 the sharing of information between individuals pro23 viding services for or on behalf of the person and the 

24 candidate or committee or agents of the candidate or 

25 committee. 


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1 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE FOR PAYMENTS BY COORDI2 NATED SPENDERS FOR COVERED COMMUNICATIONS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) PAYMENTS DEEMED TO BE MADE IN CO4 OPERATION, CONSULTATION, OR CONCERT WITH, 

5 CANDIDATES.—For purposes of this section, if the 

6 person who makes a payment for a covered commu7 nication is a coordinated spender with respect to the 

8 candidate involved, the person shall be deemed to 

9 have made the payment in cooperation, consultation, 

10 or concert with the candidate. 

11 ‘‘(2) COORDINATED SPENDER DEFINED.—For 

12 purposes of this subsection, the term ‘coordinated 

13 spender’ means, with respect to a candidate or an 

14 authorized committee of a candidate, a person (other 

15 than a political committee of a political party) for 

16 which any of the following applies: 

17 ‘‘(A) The person is directly or indirectly 

18 formed or established by or at the request or 

19 suggestion of, or with the encouragement of, 

20 the candidate or committee or agents of the 

21 candidate or committee, including with the ex22 press or tacit approval of the candidate or com23 mittee or agents of the candidate or committee. 

24 ‘‘(B) The candidate or committee or agents 

25 of the candidate or committee solicit funds or 


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1 engage in other fundraising activity on the per2 son’s behalf during the election cycle involved, 

3 including by providing the person with names of 

4 potential donors or other lists to be used by the 

5 person in engaging in fundraising activity, re6 gardless of whether the person pays fair market 

7 value for the names or lists provided. 

8 ‘‘(C) The person is established, directed, or 

9 managed by any person who, during the elec10 tion cycle involved or during the 4-year period 

11 ending on the first day of the election cycle in12 volved, has been employed or retained as a po13 litical, media, or fundraising adviser or consult14 ant for the candidate or committee or for any 

15 other entity directly or indirectly controlled by 

16 the candidate or committee, or has held a for17 mal position with a title for the candidate or 

18 committee. 

19 ‘‘(D) During the election cycle involved, 

20 the person has had more than incidental com21 munications with the candidate or committee or 

22 agents of the candidate or committee about the 

23 candidate’s campaign needs or activities, or 

24 about the person’s possible or actual campaign 


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1 activities with respect to the candidate or com2 mittee. 

3 ‘‘(E) The person has retained the profes4 sional services of any person who, during the 

5 same election cycle, has provided or is providing 

6 professional services relating to the campaign to 

7 the candidate or committee. For purposes of 

8 this subparagraph, the term ‘professional serv9 ices’ includes any services in support of the can10 didate’s or committee’s campaign activities, in11 cluding advertising, message, strategy, policy, 

12 polling, allocation of resources, fundraising, and 

13 campaign operations, but does not include ac14 counting or legal services. 

15 ‘‘(F) The person is established, directed, or 

16 managed by a member of the immediate family 

17 of the candidate, or (in the case of a person 

18 that is a political committee) has received a 

19 contribution from a member of the immediate 

20 family of the candidate. For purposes of this 

21 subparagraph, the term ‘immediate family’ has 

22 the meaning given such term in section 9004(e) 

23 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

24 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (2) shall apply 

25 to a person with respect to a candidate or authorized 


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1 committee during a calendar quarter only if 20 per2 cent or more of that person’s total spending for cov3 ered communications in the period beginning on the 

4 first day of the election cycle with respect to the 

5 candidate or committee involved and ending on the 

6 first day of that calendar quarter is attributable 

7 to— 

8 ‘‘(A) communications that promote or sup9 port that candidate, or attack or oppose the op10 ponent of that candidate, in the case of covered 

11 communications described in subsection (d)(1); 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(B) communications that refer to that 

14 candidate or an opponent of that candidate, in 

15 the case of covered communications described in 

16 subsection (d)(2). 

17 ‘‘(d) COVERED COMMUNICATION DEFINED.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec19 tion, the term ‘covered communication’ means, with 

20 respect to a candidate or an authorized committee of 

21 a candidate, a public communication (as defined in 

22 section 301(22)) which— 

23 ‘‘(A) promotes or supports the candidate, 

24 or attacks or opposes an opponent of the can25 didate (regardless of whether the communicaVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Oct 03, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5641.IH H5641

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1 tion expressly advocates the election or defeat 

2 of a candidate or contains the functional equiv3 alent of express advocacy); or 

4 ‘‘(B) refers to the candidate or an oppo5 nent of the candidate but is not described in 

6 subparagraph (A), but only if the communica7 tion is disseminated during the applicable elec8 tion period. 

9 ‘‘(2) APPLICABLE ELECTION PERIOD.—In para10 graph (1)(B), the ‘applicable election period’ with re11 spect to a communication means— 

12 ‘‘(A) in the case of a communication which 

13 refers to a candidate for the office of President 

14 or Vice President, the period which begins on 

15 the date that is 120 days before the date of the 

16 first primary election, preference election, or 

17 nominating convention for nomination for the 

18 office of President which is held in any State 

19 and ends with the date of the general election 

20 for such office; or 

21 ‘‘(B) in the case of a communication which 

22 refers to a candidate for any other office, which 

23 begins on the date that is 90 days before the 

24 primary or preference election, or convention or 

25 caucus of a political party that has authority to 


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1 nominate a candidate, for the office sought by 

2 the candidate and ends on the date of the gen3 eral election for such office. 

4 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES FOR COMMUNICATIONS IN5 VOLVING CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES.—For pur6 poses of this subsection, a public communication 

7 shall not be considered to be a covered communica8 tion with respect to a candidate for election for an 

9 office other than the office of President or Vice 

10 President unless it is publicly disseminated or dis11 tributed in the jurisdiction of the office the can12 didate is seeking. 

13 ‘‘(e) ELECTION CYCLE DEFINED.—In this section, 

14 the term ‘election cycle’ means, with respect to an election 

15 for Federal office, the period beginning on the day after 

16 the date of the most recent general election for that office 

17 (or, if the general election resulted in a runoff election, 

18 the date of the runoff election) and ending on the date 

19 of the next general election for that office (or, if the gen20 eral election resulted in a runoff election, the date of the 

21 runoff election).’’. 

22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

23 (1) REPEAL OF EXISTING REGULATIONS ON CO24 ORDINATION.—Effective upon the expiration of the 


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1 90-day period which begins on the date of the enact2 ment of this Act— 

3 (A) the regulations on coordinated commu4 nications adopted by the Federal Election Com5 mission which are in effect on the date of the 

6 enactment of this Act (as set forth in 11 CFR 

7 part 109, subpart C, under the heading ‘‘Co8 ordination’’) are repealed; and 

9 (B) the Federal Election Commission shall 

10 promulgate new regulations on coordinated 

11 communications which reflect the amendments 

12 made by this Act. 

13 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

14 by this section shall apply with respect to payments 

15 made on or after the expiration of the 120-day pe16 riod which begins on the date of the enactment of 

17 this Act, without regard to whether or not the Fed18 eral Election Commission has promulgated regula19 tions in accordance with paragraph (1)(B) as of the 

20 expiration of such period. 


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1 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF BAN ON FUNDRAISING FOR 

2 SUPER PACS BY FEDERAL CANDIDATES AND 

3 OFFICEHOLDERS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 323(e)(1) of the Federal 

5 Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 30125(e)(1)) 

6 is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph 

8 (A); 

9 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub10 paragraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

11 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub12 paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(C) solicit, receive, direct, or transfer 

14 funds to or on behalf of any political committee 

15 which accepts donations or contributions that 

16 do not comply with the limitations, prohibitions, 

17 and reporting requirements of this Act (or to or 

18 on behalf of any account of a political com19 mittee which is established for the purpose of 

20 accepting such donations or contributions), or 

21 to or on behalf of any political organization 

22 under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code 

23 of 1986 which accepts such donations or con24 tributions (other than a committee of a State or 

25 local political party or a candidate for election 

26 for State or local office).’’. 


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

2 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to elections occur3 ring after January 1, 2015. 

Æ 


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