I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 610

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit contributions and expenditures by multicandidate political committees controlled

by foreign-owned corporations, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 5, 1997

Ms. KAPTUR (for herself, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, and Ms. SLAUGHTER)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

House Oversight, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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

prohibit contributions and expenditures by multicandidate political committees controlled by foreign-owned

corporations, 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. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ethics in Foreign Lob5 bying Act of 1997’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI2 TURES BY MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL

3 COMMITTEES OR SEPARATE SEGREGATED

4 FUNDS SPONSORED BY FOREIGN-CON5 TROLLED CORPORATIONS AND ASSOCIA6 TIONS.

7 Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

8 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

9 end the following new section:

10 ‘‘PROHIBITION OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES

11 BY MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEES SPON12 SORED BY FOREIGN-CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS

13 AND ASSOCIATIONS

14 ‘‘SEC. 324. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision

15 of law—

16 ‘‘(1) no multicandidate political committee or

17 separate segregated fund of a foreign-controlled cor18 poration may make any contribution or expenditure

19 with respect to an election for Federal office; and

20 ‘‘(2) no multicandidate political committee or

21 separate segregated fund of a trade organization,

22 membership organization, cooperative, or corporation

23 without capital stock may make any contribution or

24 expenditure with respect to an election for Federal

25 office if 50 percent or more of the operating fund of
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1 the trade organization, membership organization, co2 operative, or corporation without capital stock is

3 supplied by foreign-controlled corporations or foreign

4 nationals.

5 ‘‘(b) The Commission shall—

6 ‘‘(1) require each multicandidate political com7 mittee or separate segregated fund of a corporation

8 to include in the statement of organization of the

9 multicandidate political committee or separate seg10 regated fund a statement (to be updated annually

11 and at any time when the percentage goes above or

12 below 50 percent) of the percentage of ownership in13 terest in the corporation that is controlled by per14 sons other than citizens or nationals of the United

15 States;

16 ‘‘(2) require each trade association, membership

17 organization, cooperative, or corporation without

18 capital stock to include in its statement of organiza19 tion of the multicandidate political committee or sep20 arate segregated fund (and update annually) the

21 percentage of its operating fund that is derived from

22 foreign-owned corporations and foreign nationals;

23 and

24 ‘‘(3) take such action as may be necessary to

25 enforce subsection (a).
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1 ‘‘(c) The Commission shall maintain a list of the

2 identity of the multicandidate political committees or sepa3 rate segregated funds that file reports under subsection

4 (b), including a statement of the amounts and percentage

5 reported by such multicandidate political committees or

6 separate segregated funds.

7 ‘‘(d) As used in this section—

8 ‘‘(1) the term ‘foreign-owned corporation’

9 means a corporation at least 50 percent of the own10 ership interest of which is controlled by persons

11 other than citizens or nationals of the United States;

12 ‘‘(2) the term ‘multicandidate political commit13 tee’ has the meaning given that term in section

14 315(a)(4);

15 ‘‘(3) the term ‘separate segregated fund’ means

16 a separate segregated fund referred to in section

17 316(b)(2)(C); and

18 ‘‘(4) the term ‘foreign national’ has the mean19 ing given that term in section 319.’’.

20 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN ELECTION-RELATED

21 ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN NATIONALS.

22 Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

23 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441e) is amended by adding at the end

24 the following new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(c) A foreign national shall not direct, dictate, con2 trol, or directly or indirectly participate in the decision3 making process of any person, such as a corporation, labor

4 organization, or political committee, with regard to such

5 person’s Federal or non-Federal election-related activities,

6 such as decisions concerning the making of contributions

7 or expenditures in connection with elections for any local,

8 State, or Federal office or decisions concerning the admin9 istration of a political committee.’’.

10 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF A CLEARINGHOUSE OF POLITI11 CAL ACTIVITIES INFORMATION WITHIN THE

12 FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION.

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be established

14 within the Federal Election Commission a clearinghouse

15 of public information regarding the political activities of

16 foreign principals and agents of foreign principals. The in17 formation comprising this clearinghouse shall include only

18 the following:

19 (1) All registrations and reports filed pursuant

20 to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C.

21 1601 and following) during the preceding 5-year pe22 riod.

23 (2) All registrations and reports filed pursuant

24 to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, as amended
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1 (22 U.S.C. 611 and following), during the preceding

2 5-year period.

3 (3) The listings of public hearings, hearing wit4 nesses, and witness affiliations printed in the Con5 gressional Record during the preceding 5-year pe6 riod.

7 (4) Public information disclosed pursuant to the

8 rules of the Senate or the House of Representatives

9 regarding honoraria, the receipt of gifts, travel, and

10 earned and unearned income.

11 (5) All reports filed pursuant to title I of the

12 Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.)

13 during the preceding 5-year period.

14 (6) All public information filed with the Federal

15 Election Commission pursuant to the Federal Elec16 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 and fol17 lowing) during the preceding 5-year period.

18 (b) DISCLOSURE OF OTHER INFORMATION PROHIB19 ITED.—The disclosure by the clearinghouse, or any officer

20 or employee thereof, of any information other than that

21 set forth in subsection (a) is prohibited, except as other22 wise provided by law.

23 (c) DIRECTOR OF CLEARINGHOUSE.—(1) The clear24 inghouse shall have a Director, who shall administer and
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1 manage the responsibilities and all activities of the clear2 inghouse.

3 (2) The Director shall be appointed by the Federal

4 Election Commission.

5 (3) The Director shall serve a single term of a period

6 of time determined by the Commission, but not to exceed

7 5 years.

8 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

9 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

10 necessary to conduct the activities of the clearinghouse.

11 SEC. 5. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIRECTOR

12 OF THE CLEARINGHOUSE.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be the duty of the Direc14 tor of the clearinghouse established under section 4—

15 (1) to develop a filing, coding, and cross-index16 ing system to carry out the purposes of this Act

17 (which shall include an index of all persons identi18 fied in the reports, registrations, and other informa19 tion comprising the clearinghouse);

20 (2) notwithstanding any other provision of law,

21 to make copies of registrations, reports, and other

22 information comprising the clearinghouse available

23 for public inspection and copying, beginning not

24 later than 30 days after the information is first

25 available to the public, and to permit copying of any
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1 such registration, report, or other information by

2 hand or by copying machine or, at the request of

3 any person, to furnish a copy of any such registra4 tion, report, or other information upon payment of

5 the cost of making and furnishing such copy, except

6 that no information contained in such registration or

7 report and no such other information shall be sold

8 or used by any person for the purpose of soliciting

9 contributions or for any profit-making purpose;

10 (3) to compile and summarize, for each cal11 endar quarter, the information contained in such

12 registrations, reports, and other information com13 prising the clearinghouse in a manner which facili14 tates the disclosure of political activities, including,

15 but not limited to, information on—

16 (A) political activities pertaining to issues

17 before the Congress and issues before the exec18 utive branch; and

19 (B) the political activities of individuals,

20 organizations, foreign principals, and agents of

21 foreign principals who share an economic, busi22 ness, or other common interest;

23 (4) to make the information compiled and sum24 marized under paragraph (3) available to the public
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1 within 30 days after the close of each calendar quar2 ter, and to publish such information in the Federal

3 Register at the earliest practicable opportunity;

4 (5) not later than 150 days after the date of

5 the enactment of this Act and at any time there6 after, to prescribe, in consultation with the Comp7 troller General of the United States, such rules, reg8 ulations, and forms, in conformity with the provi9 sions of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, as

10 are necessary to carry out the provisions of section

11 4 and this section in the most effective and efficient

12 manner; and

13 (6) at the request of any Member of the Senate

14 or the House of Representatives, to prepare and

15 submit to such Member a study or report relating to

16 the political activities of any person and consisting

17 only of the information in the registrations, reports,

18 and other information comprising the clearinghouse.

19 (b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

20 (1) the terms ‘‘foreign principal’’ and ‘‘agent of

21 a foreign principal’’ have the meanings given those

22 terms in section 1 of the Foreign Agents Registra23 tion Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611);
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1 (2) the term ‘‘issue before the Congress’’ means

2 the total of all matters, both substantive and proce3 dural, relating to—

4 (A) any pending or proposed bill, resolu5 tion, report, nomination, treaty, hearing, inves6 tigation, or other similar matter in either the

7 Senate or the House of Representatives or any

8 committee or office of the Congress; or

9 (B) any pending action by a Member, offi10 cer, or employee of the Congress to affect, or

11 attempt to affect, any action or proposed action

12 by any officer or employee of the executive

13 branch; and

14 (3) the term ‘‘issue before the executive

15 branch’’ means the total of all matters, both sub16 stantive and procedural, relating to any pending ac17 tion by any executive agency, or by any officer or

18 employee of the executive branch, concerning—

19 (A) any pending or proposed rule, rule of

20 practice, adjudication, regulation, determina21 tion, hearing, investigation, contract, grant, li22 cense, negotiation, or the appointment of offi23 cers and employees, other than appointments in

24 the competitive service; or

25 (B) any issue before the Congress.
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1 SEC. 6. PENALTIES FOR DISCLOSURE.

2 Any person who discloses information in violation of

3 section 4(b), and any person who sells or uses information

4 for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for any prof5 it-making purpose in violation of section 5(a)(2), shall be

6 imprisoned for a period of not more than 1 year, or fined

7 in the amount provided in title 18, United States Code,

8 or both.

9 SEC. 7. AMENDMENTS TO THE FOREIGN AGENTS REG10 ISTRATION ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED.

11 (a) QUARTERLY REPORTS.—Section 2(b) of the For12 eign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22

13 U.S.C. 612(b)), is amended in the first sentence by strik14 ing out ‘‘, within thirty days’’ and all that follows through

15 ‘‘preceding six months’ period’’ and inserting in lieu there16 of ‘‘on January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31

17 of each year, file with the Attorney General a supplement

18 thereto on a form prescribed by the Attorney General,

19 which shall set forth regarding the three-month periods

20 ending the previous December 31, March 31, June 30, and

21 September 30, respectively, or if a lesser period, the period

22 since the initial filing,’’.

23 (b) EXEMPTION FOR LEGAL REPRESENTATION.—

24 Section 3(g) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of

25 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 613(g)) is amended by in26 serting after ‘‘whether formal or informal.’’ the following:
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1 ‘‘A person may be exempt under this subsection only upon

2 filing with the Attorney General a request for such exemp3 tion.’’.

4 (c) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 8 of the Foreign

5 Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C.

6 618), is amended by adding at the end thereof the follow7 ing:

8 ‘‘(i)(1) Any person who is determined, after notice

9 and opportunity for an administrative hearing—

10 ‘‘(A) to have failed to file a registration state11 ment under section 2(a) or a supplement thereto

12 under section 2(b),

13 ‘‘(B) to have omitted a material fact required to

14 be stated therein, or

15 ‘‘(C) to have made a false statement with re16 spect to such a material fact,

17 shall be required to pay a civil penalty in an amount not

18 less than $2,000 or more than $5,000 for each violation

19 committed. In determining the amount of the penalty, the

20 Attorney General shall give due consideration to the na21 ture and duration of the violation.

22 ‘‘(2)(A) In conducting investigations and hearings

23 under paragraph (1), administrative law judges may, if

24 necessary, compel by subpoena the attendance of witnesses
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1 and the production of evidence at any designated place

2 or hearing.

3 ‘‘(B) In the case of contumacy or refusal to obey a

4 subpoena lawfully issued under this paragraph and, upon

5 application by the Attorney General, an appropriate dis6 trict court of the United States may issue an order requir7 ing compliance with such subpoena and any failure to obey

8 such order may be punished by such court as contempt

9 thereof.’’.

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