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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 732

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to reform House

of Representatives campaign finance laws, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 30, 1995

Mr. GOSS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on House Oversight and, in addition, to the Committees on Government

Reform and Oversight and Commerce, 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

reform House of Representatives campaign finance laws,

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. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION LIMI4 TATION ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PERSONS

5 OTHER THAN LOCAL INDIVIDUAL RESIDENTS.

6 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

7 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a), is amended by adding at the

8 end the following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(i) A candidate for the office of Representative in,

2 or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress

3 may not, with respect to a reporting period for an election,

4 accept contributions—

5 ‘‘(1) from persons other than individual resi6 dents of the congressional district involved in excess

7 of 50 percent of the total of contributions accepted;

8 or

9 ‘‘(2) from persons other than individual resi10 dents of the State in which the congressional district

11 involved is located in excess of 10 percent of the

12 total of contributions accepted.’’.

13 SEC. 2. REDUCTION IN LIMITATION AMOUNT APPLICABLE

14 TO CONTRIBUTIONS BY A MULTICANDIDATE

15 POLITICAL COMMITTEE TO A HOUSE OF REP16 RESENTATIVES CANDIDATE.

17 Section 315(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Election Cam18 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)(A)) is amended

19 by inserting after ‘‘$5,000’’ the following: ‘‘, except that

20 in the case of an election for the office of Representative

21 in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Con22 gress, the limitation shall be $1,000’’.
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1 SEC. 3. BAN ON SOFT MONEY.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal Election

3 Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended

4 by adding at the end the following new section:

5 ‘‘LIMITATIONS AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR

6 AMOUNTS PAID FOR MIXED POLITICAL ACTIVITIES

7 ‘‘SEC. 323. (a) Any payment by the national commit8 tee of a political party or a State committee of a political

9 party for a mixed political activity—

10 ‘‘(1) shall be subject to limitation and reporting

11 under this Act as if such payment were an expendi12 ture; and

13 ‘‘(2) may be paid only from an account that is

14 subject to the requirements of this Act.

15 ‘‘(b) As used in this section, the term ‘mixed political

16 activity’ means, with respect to a payment by the national

17 committee of a political party or a State committee of a

18 political party, an activity, such as a voter registration

19 program, a get-out-the-vote drive, or general political ad20 vertising, that is both (1) for the purpose of influencing

21 an election for Federal office, and (2) for any purpose un22 related to influencing an election for Federal office.’’.

23 (b) REPEAL OF BUILDING FUND EXCEPTION TO THE

24 DEFINITION OF THE TERM ‘‘CONTRIBUTION’’.—Section

25 301(8)(B) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

26 (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)) is amended—
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1 (1) by striking out clause (viii); and

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

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

4 SEC. 4. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OFFICIAL MAIL AL5 LOWANCE FORMULA REDUCTION.

6 Section 311(e)(2)(B)(i) of the Legislative Branch Ap7 propriations Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 59e(e)(2)(B)(i)) is

8 amended by striking out ‘‘3’’ and inserting in lieu thereof

9 ‘‘1.5’’.

10 SEC. 5. BAN ON UNSOLICITED MAIL AS FRANKED MAIL

11 WITHIN 60 DAYS BEFORE A MEMBER’S PRI12 MARY AND GENERAL ELECTION.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3210(a)(6) of title 39,

14 United States Code, is amended—

15 (1) by striking out ‘‘mass mailing’’ and insert16 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘unsolicited mailing’’ each place

17 it occurs in subparagraphs (A) through (D); and

18 (2) by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(G) As used in this paragraph, the term

20 ‘unsolicited mailing’ means all mail other than

21 mail that is—

22 ‘‘(i) in direct response to a commu23 nication from a person to whom the matter

24 is mailed;
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1 ‘‘(ii) from a Member of Congress to

2 other Members of Congress;

3 ‘‘(iii) a news release to the commu4 nications media; or

5 ‘‘(iv) in furtherance of the administra6 tive duties of the Member of Congress.’’.

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

8 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to sessions of Con9 gress beginning after the date of the enactment of this

10 Act.

11 SEC. 6. DISCLOSURE OF MEMBER’S FIRST CLASS MAILINGS

12 TO THE PUBLIC.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 311(a)(3) of the Legisla14 tive Branch Appropriations Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C.

15 59e(a)(3)) is amended by adding before the period at the

16 end the following: ‘‘, including (by separate category) the

17 costs relating to franked, first class mass mailings’’.

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

19 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to sessions of Con20 gress beginning after the date of the enactment of this

21 Act.

22 SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.

23 Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

24 U.S.C. 315) is amended—

25 (1) in subsection (b)(1)—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘forty-five’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘30’’;

3 (B) by striking ‘‘sixty’’ and inserting ‘‘45’’;

4 and

5 (C) by striking ‘‘lowest unit charge of the

6 station for the same class and amount of time

7 for the same period’’ and insert ‘‘lowest charge

8 of the station for the same amount of time for

9 the same period’’;

10 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as

11 subsections (d) and (e), respectively;

12 (3) by inserting immediately after subsection

13 (b) the following new subsection:

14 ‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), a li15 censee shall not preempt the use, during any period speci16 fied in subsection (b)(1), of a broadcasting station by a

17 legally qualified candidate for public office who has pur18 chased and paid for such use pursuant to the provisions

19 of subsection (b)(1).

20 ‘‘(2) If a program to be broadcast by a broadcasting

21 station is preempted because of circumstances beyond the

22 control of the broadcasting station, any candidate adver23 tising spot scheduled to be broadcast during that program

24 may also be preempted.’’; and
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1 (4) in subsection (d) (as redesignated by para2 graph (2) of this section)—

3 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para4 graph (1);

5 (B) by striking the period at the end of

6 paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

7 (C) by adding at the end thereof the fol8 lowing new paragraph:

9 ‘‘(3) a station’s lowest charge for purposes of

10 paragraph (1)—

11 ‘‘(A) with respect to a primary or primary

12 runoff election, is determined for the interval

13 beginning 60 days before such election and end14 ing on the date of that election; and

15 ‘‘(B) with respect to a general or special

16 election, is determined for the interval begin17 ning 90 days before such election and ending on

18 the date of that election.’’.

19 SEC. 8. PROHIBITION OF TRAVEL BY MEMBERS, OFFICERS,

20 AND EMPLOYEES OF THE HOUSE OF REP21 RESENTATIVES AT LOBBYIST EXPENSE.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—A Member, officer, or employee

23 of the House of Representatives may not perform any

24 travel at the expense of a person who is required to reg-
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1 ister under section 308 of the Federal Regulation of Lob2 bying Act (2 U.S.C. 267).

3 (b) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

4 ‘‘Member of the House of Representatives’’ means a Rep5 resentative in, or a Delegate or Resident Commissioner

6 to, the Congress.

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