I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1039

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

campaign finance reform through requiring better reporting, decreasing

the role of soft money, and increasing individual contribution limits,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 15, 2001

Mr. TERRY (for himself, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, and Mr. PICKERING) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Energy 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

provide meaningful campaign finance reform through requiring better reporting, decreasing the role of soft

money, and increasing individual contribution limits, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

3 ‘‘Open and Accountable Campaign Financing Act of

4 2001’’.

5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of

6 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I—DISCLOSURE

Sec. 101. Additional monthly and quarterly disclosure reports.

Sec. 102. Reporting by national political party committees.

Sec. 103. Increased electronic disclosure.

Sec. 104. Public access to broadcasting records.

TITLE II—SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES AND

CONTRIBUTION LIMITS

Sec. 201. Limit on soft money of national political party committees.

Sec. 202. Judicial review.

Sec. 203. Increase in contribution limits.

TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Sec. 301. Prohibition of solicitation of political party soft money in Federal

buildings.

Sec. 302. Update of penalty amounts.

Sec. 303. Activities of membership organizations and their affiliates.

Sec. 304. Filing of Senate reports with the Federal Election Commission.

7 TITLE I—DISCLOSURE

8 SEC. 101. ADDITIONAL MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY DISCLO9 SURE REPORTS.

10 (a) PRINCIPAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES.—

11 (1) MONTHLY REPORTS.—Section 304(a)(2)(A)

12 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2

13 U.S.C. 434(a)(2)(A)) is amended by striking clause

14 (iii) and inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘(iii) additional monthly reports, which

2 shall be filed not later than the 20th day after

3 the last day of the month and shall be complete

4 as of the last day of the month, except that

5 monthly reports shall not be required under this

6 clause in November and December and a year

7 end report shall be filed not later than January

8 31 of the following calendar year.’’.

9 (2) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—Section

10 304(a)(2)(B) of such Act is amended by striking

11 ‘‘the following reports’’ and all that follows through

12 the period and inserting ‘‘the treasurer shall file

13 quarterly reports, which shall be filed not later than

14 the 15th day after the last day of each calendar

15 quarter, and which shall be complete as of the last

16 day of each calendar quarter, except that the report

17 for the quarter ending December 31 shall be filed

18 not later than January 31 of the following calendar

19 year.’’.

20 (b) NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF A POLITICAL

21 PARTY.—Section 304(a)(4) of the Federal Election Cam22 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(4)) is amended by

23 adding at the end the following flush sentence: ‘‘Notwith24 standing the preceding sentence, a national committee of
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1 a political party shall file the reports required under sub2 paragraph (B).’’.

3 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

4 (1) SECTION 304.—Section 304(a) of the Fed5 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

6 434(a)) is amended—

7 (A) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii), by striking

8 ‘‘quarterly reports’’ and inserting ‘‘monthly re9 ports’’; and

10 (B) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘quar11 terly report under paragraph (2)(A)(iii) or

12 paragraph (4)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘monthly

13 report under paragraph (2)(A)(iii) or paragraph

14 (4)(A)’’.

15 (2) SECTION 309.—Section 309(b) of the Fed16 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

17 437g(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘calendar quarter’’

18 and inserting ‘‘month’’.

19 SEC. 102. REPORTING BY NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY

20 COMMITTEES.

21 Section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

22 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434) is amended by adding at the end

23 the following:

24 ‘‘(e) POLITICAL COMMITTEES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL AND CONGRESSIONAL POLIT2 ICAL COMMITTEES.—The national committee of a

3 political party, any national congressional campaign

4 committee of a political party, and any subordinate

5 committee of either, shall report all receipts and dis6 bursements during the reporting period.

7 ‘‘(2) ITEMIZATION.—If a political committee

8 has receipts or disbursements to which this sub9 section applies from any person aggregating in ex10 cess of $200 for any calendar year, the political

11 committee shall separately itemize its reporting for

12 such person in the same manner as required in para13 graphs (3)(A), (5), and (6) of subsection (b).

14 ‘‘(3) REPORTING PERIODS.—Reports required

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

16 same time periods required for political committees

17 under subsection (a)(4)(B).’’.

18 SEC. 103. INCREASED ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE.

19 Section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

20 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434), as amended by section 102, is

21 amended by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘(f) INTERNET AVAILABILITY.—The Commission

23 shall make the information contained in the reports sub24 mitted under this section available on the Internet and

25 publicly available at the offices of the Commission as soon
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1 as practicable (but in no case later than 24 hours) after

2 the information is received by the Commission.’’.

3 SEC. 104. PUBLIC ACCESS TO BROADCASTING RECORDS.

4 Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

5 U.S.C. 315) is amended by redesignating subsections (c)

6 and (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively, and insert7 ing after subsection (b) the following:

8 ‘‘(c) POLITICAL RECORD.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A licensee shall maintain,

10 and make available for public inspection, a complete

11 record of a request to purchase broadcast time

12 that—

13 ‘‘(A) is made by or on behalf of a legally

14 qualified candidate for public office; or

15 ‘‘(B) communicates a message relating to

16 any political matter of national importance,

17 including—

18 ‘‘(i) a legally qualified candidate;

19 ‘‘(ii) any election to Federal office; or

20 ‘‘(iii) a national legislative issue of

21 public importance.

22 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORD.—A record main23 tained under paragraph (1) shall contain informa24 tion regarding—
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1 ‘‘(A) whether the request to purchase

2 broadcast time is accepted or rejected by the li3 censee;

4 ‘‘(B) the rate charged for the broadcast

5 time;

6 ‘‘(C) the date and time on which the com7 munication is aired;

8 ‘‘(D) the class of time that is purchased;

9 ‘‘(E) the name of the candidate to which

10 the communication refers and the office to

11 which the candidate is seeking election, the elec12 tion to which the communication refers, or the

13 issue to which the communication refers (as ap14 plicable);

15 ‘‘(F) in the case of a request made by, or

16 on behalf of, a candidate, the name of the can17 didate, the authorized committee of the can18 didate, and the treasurer of such committee;

19 and

20 ‘‘(G) in the case of any other request, the

21 name of the person purchasing the time, the

22 name, address, and phone number of a contact

23 person for such person, and a list of the chief

24 executive officers or members of the executive
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1 committee or of the board of directors of such

2 person.

3 ‘‘(3) TIME TO MAINTAIN FILE.—The informa4 tion required under this subsection shall be placed in

5 a political file as soon as possible and shall be re6 tained by the licensee for a period of not less than

7 2 years.’’.

8 TITLE II—SOFT MONEY OF NA9 TIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES

10 AND CONTRIBUTION LIMITS

11 SEC. 201. LIMIT ON SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL

12 PARTY COMMITTEES.

13 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

14 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

15 end the following:

16 ‘‘SEC. 323. LIMIT ON SOFT MONEY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL

17 PARTY COMMITTEES.

18 ‘‘(a) LIMITATION.—A national committee of a polit19 ical party, a congressional campaign committee of a na20 tional party, or an entity directly or indirectly established,

21 financed, maintained, or controlled by such committee

22 shall not accept a donation, gift, or transfer of funds of

23 any kind (not including transfers from other committees

24 of the political party or contributions), during a calendar

25 year, from a person (including a person directly or indi-
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1 rectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by

2 such person) in an aggregate amount in excess of $90,000.

3 ‘‘(b) AGGREGATE LIMIT ON DONOR.—No person may

4 make an aggregate amount of disbursements to commit5 tees or entities described in subsection (a) (other than

6 transfers from other committees of political parties or con7 tributions) in excess of $90,000 in any calendar year.

8 ‘‘(c) INDEX OF AMOUNT.—In the case of any cal9 endar year after 2001—

10 ‘‘(1) the amounts described in subsections (a)

11 and (b) shall be increased based on the increase in

12 the price index determined under section 315(c), ex13 cept that the base period shall be calendar year

14 2001; and

15 ‘‘(2) each amount so increased shall be the

16 amount in effect for the calendar year.’’.

17 SEC. 202. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

18 (a) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—Any Member of Congress,

19 candidate, national committee of a political party, or any

20 person adversely affected by section 323 of the Federal

21 Election Campaign Act of 1971, as added by section 201,

22 may bring an action, in the United States District Court

23 for the District of Columbia, for declaratory judgment and

24 injunctive relief on the ground that such section 323 vio25 lates the Constitution.
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1 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding

2 any other provision of law, any order of the United States

3 District Court for the District of Columbia granting or

4 denying an injunction regarding, or finally disposing of,

5 an action brought under subsection (a) shall be reviewable

6 by appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United

7 States. Any such appeal shall be taken by a notice of ap8 peal filed within 10 calendar days after such order is en9 tered; and the jurisdictional statement shall be filed within

10 30 calendar days after such order is entered.

11 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the

12 duty of the District Court for the District of Columbia

13 and the Supreme Court of the United States to advance

14 on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible ex15 tent the disposition of any matter brought under sub16 section (a).

17 (d) ENFORCEABILITY.—The enforcement of any pro18 vision of section 323 of the Federal Election Campaign

19 Act of 1971, as added by section 201, shall be stayed,

20 and such section 323 shall not be effective, for the

21 period—

22 (1) beginning on the date of the filing of an ac23 tion under subsection (a); and
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1 (2) ending on the date of the final disposition

2 of such action on its merits by the Supreme Court

3 of the United States.

4 (e) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply only

5 with respect to any action filed under subsection (a) not

6 later than 30 days after the effective date of this Act.

7 SEC. 203. INCREASE IN CONTRIBUTION LIMITS.

8 (a) INCREASE IN INDIVIDUAL AND POLITICAL COM9 MITTEE CONTRIBUTION LIMITS.—Section 315(a) of the

10 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

11 441a(a)) is amended—

12 (1) in paragraph (1)—

13 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking

14 ‘‘$1,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$3,000’’;

15 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking

16 ‘‘$20,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$60,000’’; and

17 (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking

18 ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000’’; and

19 (2) in paragraph (3)—

20 (A) by striking ‘‘$25,000’’ and inserting

21 ‘‘$75,000’’; and

22 (B) by striking the second sentence.

23 (b) INCREASE IN MULTICANDIDATE LIMITS.—Sec24 tion 315(a)(2) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

25 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)) is amended—
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1 (1) in subparagraph (A)—

2 (A) by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting

3 ‘‘$7,500’’; and

4 (B) by inserting ‘‘except as provided in

5 subparagraph (D),’’ before ‘‘to any candidate’’;

6 (2) in subparagraph (B)—

7 (A) by striking ‘‘$15,000’’ and inserting

8 ‘‘$30,000’’; and

9 (B) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end;

10 (3) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘$5,000.’’

11 and inserting ‘‘$7,500; or’’; and

12 (4) by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘(D) in the case of a national committee of a

14 political party, to any candidate and his authorized

15 political committees with respect to any election for

16 Federal office which, in the aggregate, exceed

17 $15,000.’’.

18 (c) INDEXING.—Section 315(c) of the Federal Elec19 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(c)) is

20 amended—

21 (1) in paragraph (1)—

22 (A) by striking the second and third sen23 tences;

24 (B) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘At the be25 ginning’’; and
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1 (C) by adding at the end the following:

2 ‘‘(B) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), in any

3 calendar year after 2002—

4 ‘‘(i) a limitation established by subsection (a),

5 (b), (d), or (h) shall be increased by the percent dif6 ference determined under subparagraph (A); and

7 ‘‘(ii) each amount so increased shall remain in

8 effect for the calendar year.

9 ‘‘(C) In the case of limitations under subsection (a),

10 each amount increased under subparagraph (B) shall re11 main in effect for the 2-year period beginning on the first

12 day following the date of the last general election in the

13 year preceding the year in which the amount is increased

14 and ending on the date of the next general election.’’; and

15 (2) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ‘‘means the

16 calendar year 1974’’ and inserting ‘‘means—

17 ‘‘(i) for purposes of subsections (b) and

18 (d), calendar year 1974; and

19 ‘‘(ii) for purposes of subsections (a) and

20 (h), calendar year 2001’’.

21 (d) INCREASE IN SENATE CANDIDATE CONTRIBU22 TION LIMITS FOR NATIONAL PARTY COMMITTEES AND

23 SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES.—Section 315(h) of

24 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.
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1 441a(h)) is amended by striking ‘‘$17,500’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘$90,000’’.

3 (e) EFFECTIVE DATES.—

4 (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the

5 amendments made by this section shall apply to cal6 endar years beginning after December 31, 2001.

7 (2) The amendments made by subsection (c)

8 shall apply to calendar years after December 31,

9 2002.

10 TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS

11 PROVISIONS

12 SEC. 301. PROHIBITION OF SOLICITATION OF POLITICAL

13 PARTY SOFT MONEY IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 607 of title 18, United

15 States Code, is amended—

16 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘within the

17 meaning of section 301(8) of the Federal Election

18 Campaign Act of 1971’’; and

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

20 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF CONTRIBUTION.—In this sec21 tion, the term ‘contribution’ means a gift, subscription,

22 loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value

23 made by any person in connection with—

24 ‘‘(1) any election or elections for Federal office;
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1 ‘‘(2) any political committee (as defined in sec2 tion 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

3 1971); or

4 ‘‘(3) any State, district, or local committee of a

5 political party.’’.

6 (b) AMENDMENT OF TITLE 18 TO INCLUDE PROHI7 BITION OF DONATIONS.—Section 602(a)(4) of title 18,

8 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘within the

9 meaning of section 301(8) of the Federal Election Cam10 paign Act of 1971’’ and inserting ‘‘(as defined in section

11 607(c))’’.

12 SEC. 302. UPDATE OF PENALTY AMOUNTS.

13 Section 309 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

14 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 437g) is amended by adding at the end

15 the following:

16 ‘‘(e) ADJUSTMENT OF DOLLAR AMOUNTS FOR IN17 FLATION.—In the case of any calendar year after 2001—

18 ‘‘(1) each amount specified under subsection (a)

19 or the second sentence of subsection (d)(1)(A) shall

20 be increased based on the increase in the price index

21 determined under section 315(c), except that the

22 base period shall be calendar year 2001; and

23 ‘‘(2) each amount so increased shall be the

24 amount in effect for the calendar year.’’.
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1 SEC. 303. ACTIVITIES OF MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS

2 AND THEIR AFFILIATES.

3 (a) PERMITTING CORPORATE MEMBERS OF TRADE

4 ASSOCIATION TO APPROVE SOLICITATIONS BY MORE

5 THAN ONE TRADE ASSOCIATION.—Section 316(b)(4)(D)

6 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.

7 441b(b)(4)(D)) is amended by striking ‘‘, and such mem8 ber corporation’’ and all that follows and inserting a pe9 riod.

10 (b) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN EMPLOYEES AND OTH11 ERS AS EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL.—

12 Section 316(b)(7) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 441b(b)(7)) is

13 amended by striking ‘‘responsibilities.’’ and inserting the

14 following: ‘‘responsibilities (without regard to whether the

15 individual is a member or affiliate of a labor organization),

16 and includes salaried foremen or others having direct su17 pervision over employees paid on an hourly basis, and any

18 individuals with professional responsibilities who are paid

19 by the corporation as consultants or independent contrac20 tors (without regard to whether such individuals are clas21 sified as employees of the corporation for any other pur22 pose).’’.

23 SEC. 304. FILING OF SENATE REPORTS WITH THE FEDERAL

24 ELECTION COMMISSION.

25 (a) SECTION 302 AMENDMENT.—Section 302 of the

26 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 432)
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1 is amended by striking subsection (g) and inserting the

2 following:

3 ‘‘(g) PLACE OF FILING.—All designations, state4 ments, and reports required to be filed under this Act shall

5 be filed with the Commission.’’.

6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title III of the

7 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431

8 et seq.) is amended—

9 (1) in section 304—

10 (A) in subsection (a)(6)(A), by striking

11 ‘‘Secretary or the Commission’’ through ‘‘as ap12 propriate’’ and inserting ‘‘Commission and Sec13 retary of State’’,

14 (B) in the third sentence of subsection

15 (c)(2), by striking ‘‘the Secretary or’’, and

16 (C) in the fourth sentence of subsection

17 (c)(2), by striking ‘‘the Secretary, the Commis18 sion,’’ and inserting ‘‘the Commission’’; and

19 (2) in section 311(a)(4), by striking ‘‘Secretary

20 or the’’.

Æ