II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2959 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to protect Federal, 

State, and local elections from the influence of foreign nationals. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 27, 2010 

Mr. FRANKEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 

protect Federal, State, and local elections from the influence of foreign nationals. 

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 ‘‘American Elections 

5 Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FOREIGN NATIONALS PROHIBITED FROM MAKING 

2 CONTRIBUTIONS, DONATIONS, OR EXPENDI3 TURES IN CONNECTION WITH A FEDERAL, 

4 STATE, OR LOCAL ELECTION. 

5 Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

6 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441e) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (b)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

9 the end; 

10 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe11 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

13 paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(3) any corporation (other than a foreign prin15 cipal described in paragraph (1)) under foreign con16 trol or substantial foreign influence, including a cor17 poration in which— 

18 ‘‘(A) a foreign principal or an individual 

19 described in paragraph (2)— 

20 ‘‘(i) provided the corporation a major21 ity of its gross receipts for the immediately 

22 preceding fiscal year, or the current pro23 rated fiscal year if the corporation was es24 tablished during the current fiscal year; 

25 ‘‘(ii) controls 20 percent or more of 

26 the voting shares of the corporation; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) controls a majority of the Board 

2 of Directors of the corporation; or 

3 ‘‘(iv) has the power to direct, dictate, 

4 control, or directly or indirectly participate 

5 in the decisionmaking process of the cor6 poration with respect to activities in con7 nection with a Federal, State, or local elec8 tion, such as a decision concerning— 

9 ‘‘(I) the making of a contribu10 tion, donation, expenditure, or dis11 bursement in connection with such an 

12 election; or 

13 ‘‘(II) the administration of a po14 litical committee; or 

15 ‘‘(B) 2 or more foreign principals or indi16 viduals described in paragraph (2), in the ag17 gregate— 

18 ‘‘(i) provided the corporation a major19 ity of its gross receipts for the immediately 

20 preceding fiscal year, or the current pro21 rated fiscal year if the corporation was es22 tablished during the current fiscal year; 

23 ‘‘(ii) control 25 percent or more of the 

24 voting shares of the corporation; or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) control a majority of the Board 

2 of Directors of the corporation.’’; and 

3 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub4 section: 

5 ‘‘(c) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—A corpora6 tion shall, prior to carrying out any activity described in 

7 subsection (a), certify (in a form and manner specified by 

8 the Commission) that the corporation is in compliance 

9 with this section.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN NATION11 ALS IN CONNECTION WITH A FEDERAL, 

12 STATE, OR LOCAL ELECTION. 

13 Section 318 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

14 of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441d) is amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (a)(3)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘shall clearly state the 

17 name’’ and inserting ‘‘shall clearly state— 

18 ‘‘(A) the name’’; 

19 (B) in subparagraph (A), as added by sub20 paragraph (A), by striking the period at the 

21 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

23 subparagraph: 

24 ‘‘(B) if the person who paid for the com25 munication is a corporation, the percentage of 


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1 voting shares of the corporation that are con2 trolled by a foreign national (as defined in sec3 tion 319(b)) or, if no such shares exist, the per4 centage of gross receipts that the corporation 

5 received from a foreign national (as so defined) 

6 in the immediately preceding fiscal year, or the 

7 current pro-rated fiscal year if the corporation 

8 was established during the current fiscal year.’’; 

9 and 

10 (2) in subsection (d)(2)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘OTHERS.—Any commu12 nication’’ and inserting ‘‘OTHERS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any communication’’; 

14 and 

15 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

16 subparagraph: 

17 ‘‘(B) SUPPLEMENTAL AUDIO STATEMENTS

18 BY CORPORATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(i) CORPORATIONS WITH VOTING

20 STOCK.—If the person who paid for a com21 munication described in paragraph (3) of 

22 subsection (a) is a corporation that has 

23 voting stock, such communication shall in24 clude, in addition to the requirements of 

25 that paragraph and the audio statement 


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1 required under subparagraph (A), in a 

2 clearly spoken manner, the following audio 

3 statement: ‘‘ lllllll of our cor4 poration is controlled by foreign nation5 als.’’ (With the blank to be filled in with 

6 the percentage of voting shares of the cor7 poration that is owned by foreign nation8 als, as defined in section 319(b)). 

9 ‘‘(ii) CORPORATIONS WITHOUT VOT10 ING STOCK.—If the person who paid for a 

11 communication described in paragraph (3) 

12 of subsection (a) is a corporation that does 

13 not have voting stock, such communication 

14 shall include, in addition to the require15 ments of that paragraph and the audio 

16 statement required under subparagraph 

17 (A), in a clearly spoken manner, the fol18 lowing audio statement: ‘‘ lllllll 

19 of our organization’s funds come from for20 eign nationals.’’ (With the blank to be 

21 filled in with the percentage of gross re22 ceipts for the immediately preceding fiscal 

23 year, or the current pro-rated fiscal year if 

24 the corporation was established the current 

25 fiscal year, that the corporation received 


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1 from a foreign national, as defined in sec2 tion 319(b)). 

3 ‘‘(iii) TRANSMISSION THROUGH TELE4 VISION.—The second sentence of subpara5 graph (A) shall apply to a supplemental 

6 audio statement under this paragraph in 

7 the same manner as such sentence applies 

8 to an audio statement under such subpara9 graph.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 

11 If any provision of this Act or amendment made by 

12 this Act, or the application of a provision or amendment 

13 to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu14 tional, the remainder of this Act and amendments made 

15 by this Act, and the application of the provisions and 

16 amendment to any person or circumstance, shall not be 

17 affected by the holding. 

18 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

19 The provisions of and amendments made by this Act 

20 shall apply with respect to contributions and expenditures 

21 made on or after the date that is 45 days after the date 

22 of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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