I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 797

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to reduce the amount

that a multicandidate political committee may contribute to a House

of Representatives candidate, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 13, 1997

Mr. SCHIFF 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

reduce the amount that a multicandidate political committee may contribute to a House of Representatives

candidate, 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. REDUCTION IN AMOUNT MULTICANDIDATE PO4 LITICAL COMMITTEE MAY CONTRIBUTE TO

5 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATE.

6 Section 315(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Election Cam7 paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)(A)) is amended

8 by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘(i)
2

•HR 797 IH

1 $5,000, or (ii) in the case of a candidate for the office

2 of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commis3 sioner to, the Congress and the authorized political com4 mittees of such candidate, the amount of the limitation

5 provided under paragraph (1)(A) with respect to contribu6 tions made by individuals’’.

7 SEC. 2. REQUIRING AT LEAST 70 PERCENT OF CONTRIBU8 TIONS TO A HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE

9 CANDIDATE TO BE FROM IN-STATE INDIVID10 UAL RESIDENTS.

11 Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act

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

13 the following new subsection:

14 ‘‘(i)(1) With respect to each reporting period for an

15 election, the total of contributions accepted by a candidate

16 for the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident

17 Commissioner to, the Congress from in-State individual

18 residents shall be at least 70 percent of the total of con19 tributions accepted from all sources.

20 ‘‘(2) As used in this subsection, the term ‘in-State

21 individual resident’ means an individual who resides in the

22 State in which the congressional district involved is lo23 cated.’’.
3

•HR 797 IH

1 SEC. 3. WAIVER OF RESTRICTIONS FOR OPPONENTS OF

2 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE

3 WITH CONTRIBUTIONS OF PERSONAL FUNDS

4 IN EXCESS OF $50,000.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 315 of the Federal Elec6 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a), as amended

7 by section 2, is further amended by adding at the end the

8 following new subsection:

9 ‘‘(j) In the case of an election to the office of Rep10 resentative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to,

11 the Congress, if any candidate in the election has a total

12 amount of personal contributions in excess of $50,000—

13 ‘‘(1) subsection (a)(2)(A)(i) shall apply with re14 spect to any opponent of such candidate; and

15 ‘‘(2) subsection (i) shall not apply with respect

16 to any opponent of such candidate.’’.

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

18 315(a)(2)(A)(ii) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)(A)(ii)),

19 as added by section 1, is amended by inserting after ‘‘such

20 candidate’’ the following: ‘‘(except as provided in sub21 section (j))’’.

Æ