I

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4786

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the deposit

of certain contributions and donations to be returned to donors in a

special account, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 10, 1998

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

on House Oversight

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

require the deposit of certain contributions and donations

to be returned to donors in a special account, 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. DEPOSIT OF CERTAIN CONTRIBUTIONS AND

4 DONATIONS IN TREASURY ACCOUNT.

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

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

7 by adding at the end the following new section:
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1 ‘‘TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CONTRIBUTIONS AND

2 DONATIONS TO BE RETURNED TO DONORS

3 ‘‘SEC. 323. (a) TRANSFER TO COMMISSION.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

5 provision of this Act, if a political committee intends

6 to return any contribution or donation given to the

7 political committee, the committee shall transfer the

8 contribution or donation to the Commission if—

9 ‘‘(A) the contribution or donation is in an

10 amount equal to or greater than $500 (other

11 than a contribution or donation returned within

12 60 days of receipt by the committee); or

13 ‘‘(B) the contribution or donation was

14 made in violation of section 315, 316, 317, 319,

15 or 320 (other than a contribution or donation

16 returned within 30 days of receipt by the com17 mittee).

18 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION INCLUDED WITH TRANS19 FERRED CONTRIBUTION OR DONATION.—A political

20 committee shall include with any contribution or do21 nation transferred under paragraph (1)—

22 ‘‘(A) a request that the Commission return

23 the contribution or donation to the person mak24 ing the contribution or donation; and
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1 ‘‘(B) information regarding the cir2 cumstances surrounding the making of the con3 tribution or donation and any opinion of the po4 litical committee concerning whether the con5 tribution or donation may have been made in

6 violation of this Act.

7 ‘‘(3) ESTABLISHMENT OF ESCROW ACCOUNT.—

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall

9 establish a single interest-bearing escrow ac10 count for deposit of amounts transferred under

11 paragraph (1).

12 ‘‘(B) DISPOSITION OF AMOUNTS RE13 CEIVED.—On receiving an amount from a polit14 ical committee under paragraph (1), the Com15 mission shall—

16 ‘‘(i) deposit the amount in the escrow

17 account established under subparagraph

18 (A); and

19 ‘‘(ii) notify the Attorney General and

20 the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue

21 Service of the receipt of the amount from

22 the political committee.

23 ‘‘(C) USE OF INTEREST.—Interest earned

24 on amounts in the escrow account established

25 under subparagraph (A) shall be applied or
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1 used for the same purposes as the donation or

2 contribution on which it is earned.

3 ‘‘(4) TREATMENT OF RETURNED CONTRIBU4 TION OR DONATION AS A COMPLAINT.—The transfer

5 of any contribution or donation to the Commission

6 under this section shall be treated as the filing of a

7 complaint under section 309(a).

8 ‘‘(b) USE OF AMOUNTS PLACED IN ESCROW TO

9 COVER FINES AND PENALTIES.—The Commission or the

10 Attorney General may require any amount deposited in

11 the escrow account under subsection (a)(3) to be applied

12 toward the payment of any fine or penalty imposed under

13 this Act or title 18, United States Code, against the per14 son making the contribution or donation.

15 ‘‘(c) RETURN OF CONTRIBUTION OR DONATION

16 AFTER DEPOSIT IN ESCROW.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall re18 turn a contribution or donation deposited in the es19 crow account under subsection (a)(3) to the person

20 making the contribution or donation if—

21 ‘‘(A) within 180 days after the date the

22 contribution or donation is transferred, the

23 Commission has not made a determination

24 under section 309(a)(2) that the Commission

25 has reason to believe whether that the making
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1 of the contribution or donation was made in

2 violation of this Act; or

3 ‘‘(B)(i) the contribution or donation will

4 not be used to cover fines, penalties, or costs

5 pursuant to subsection (b); or

6 ‘‘(ii) if the contribution or donation will be

7 used for those purposes, that the amounts re8 quired for those purposes have been withdrawn

9 from the escrow account and subtracted from

10 the returnable contribution or donation.

11 ‘‘(2) NO EFFECT ON STATUS OF INVESTIGA12 TION.—The return of a contribution or donation by

13 the Commission under this subsection shall not be

14 construed as having an effect on the status of an in15 vestigation by the Commission or the Attorney Gen16 eral of the contribution or donation or the cir17 cumstances surrounding the contribution or dona18 tion, or on the ability of the Commission or the At19 torney General to take future actions with respect to

20 the contribution or donation.’’.

21 (b) AMOUNTS USED TO DETERMINE AMOUNT OF

22 PENALTY FOR VIOLATION.—Section 309(a) of such Act

23 (2 U.S.C. 437g(a)) is amended by inserting after para24 graph (9) the following new paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(10) For purposes of determining the amount of a

2 civil penalty imposed under this subsection for violations

3 of section 323, the amount of the donation involved shall

4 be treated as the amount of the contribution involved.’’.

5 (c) DONATION DEFINED.—Section 301 of such Act

6 (2 U.S.C. 431) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing:

8 ‘‘(20) DONATION.—The term ‘donation’ means a gift,

9 subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or any10 thing else of value made by any person to a national com11 mittee of a political party or a Senatorial or Congressional

12 Campaign Committee of a national political party for any

13 purpose, but does not include a contribution (as defined

14 in paragraph (8)).’’.

15 (d) DISGORGEMENT AUTHORITY.—Section 309 of

16 such Act (2 U.S.C. 437g) is amended by adding at the

17 end the following new subsection:

18 ‘‘(e) Any conciliation agreement, civil action, or crimi19 nal action entered into or instituted under this section

20 may require a person to forfeit to the Treasury any con21 tribution, donation, or expenditure that is the subject of

22 the agreement or action for transfer to the Commission

23 for deposit in accordance with section 323.’’.

24 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

25 subsections (a), (b), and (c) shall apply to contributions
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1 or donations refunded on or after the date of the enact2 ment of this Act, without regard to whether the Federal

3 Election Commission or Attorney General has issued regu4 lations to carry out section 323 of the Federal Election

5 Campaign Act of 1971 (as added by subsection (a)) by

6 such date.

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