I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2147
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit the use
of soft money by political parties and to require annual written authoriza-
tion for the use of amounts withheld from an individual’s wages or
salary for political activities, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 10, 1997
Mrs. LINDA SMITH of Washington (for herself, Mr. SANFORD, and Mr. WAMP)
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
prohibit the use of soft money by political parties and
to require annual written authorization for the use of
amounts withheld from an individual’s wages or salary
for political activities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Anti-Money Launder-
ing and Paycheck Accountability Act’’.
SEC. 2. BAN ON NON-FEDERAL FUNDS OF POLITICAL PAR-
TIES.
Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:
‘‘BAN ON USE NON-FEDERAL FUNDS OF POLITICAL
PARTIES
‘‘SEC. 323. (a) BAN DESCRIBED.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided in this section, no funds may be solicited, con-
tributed, or expended by any political party commit-
tee for purposes of any activity influencing an elec-
tion for Federal office (without regard to whether
the activity involved also influences any other elec-
tion) unless the funds are subject to the limitations,
prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act.
‘‘(2) EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES COVERED.—For
purposes of paragraph (1), the following activities
shall be considered to be examples of activities influ-
encing an election for Federal office:
‘‘(A) Voter registration.
‘‘(B) Absentee ballot programs.
‘‘(C) Get-out-the-vote programs.
‘‘(D) Generic campaign activity.
‘‘(E) The making or disseminating of any
communication which identifies (by name, like-
ness, or representation) any candidate for elec-
tion for Federal office.
‘‘(b) FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR PARTY COMMUNICA-
TIONS WITH MEMBERS.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall not
apply with respect to funds solicited, contributed, or
expended by a political party committee for commu-
nications to the extent the communications are made
to members of the party, except that funds used for
any communications which are both for the purpose
of expressly advocating the election or defeat of a
specific candidate for election to Federal office and
for any other purpose shall be allocated among the
candidates involved on the basis of the time and
space allocated to the candidates.
‘‘(2) PARTY MEMBERS DESCRIBED.—For pur-
poses of paragraph (1), an individual shall be con-
sidered to be a ‘member’ of a political party if any
of the following apply:
‘‘(A) The individual is registered to vote as
a member of the party.
‘‘(B) There is a public record that the indi-
vidual voted in the primary of the party during
the most recent primary election.
‘‘(C) The individual has made a contribu-
tion to the party and the contribution has been
reported to the Commission (in accordance with
this Act) or to a State reporting agency.
‘‘(D) The individual has indicated in writ-
ing that the individual is a member of the
party.
‘‘(c) FUNDS AVAILABLE
FOR STATE
AND LOCAL
PARTY VOLUNTEER AND GRASSROOTS ACTIVITIES.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall not
apply with respect to funds solicited, contributed, or
expended by a political party committee for activities
described in paragraph (2), except that any pay-
ments which are both for the purpose of expressly
advocating the election or defeat of a specific can-
didate for election to Federal office and for any
other purpose shall be allocated among the can-
didates involved on the basis of the time and space
allocated to the candidates for such activities.
‘‘(2) ACTIVITIES
DESCRIBED.—The activities
described in this paragraph are as follows:
‘‘(A) The listing of the slate of the party’s
candidates, including the communication of the
slate to the public.
‘‘(B) The mailing of materials for or on
behalf of specific candidates by volunteers (in-
cluding labeling envelopes or affixing postage or
other indicia to particular pieces of mail), other
than the mailing of materials to a commercial
list.
‘‘(C) Conducting a telephone bank for or
on behalf of specific candidates staffed by vol-
unteers.
‘‘(D) The distribution of collateral mate-
rials (such as pins, bumper stickers, handbills,
brochures, posters, party tabloids, and yard
signs) for or on behalf of specific candidates
(whether by volunteers or otherwise).
‘‘(d) LIMIT
ON AMOUNT CONTRIBUTED
FOR EX-
EMPTED PARTY-BUILDING ACTIVITIES.—No person may
make contributions to a political party committee for ac-
tivities described in subsection (b) or subsection (c) with
respect to an election in an aggregate amount in excess
of $25,000. Any amounts contributed by an individual for
such activities shall be included in determining whether
the individual has made contributions in excess of the ag-
gregate annual limit on contributions provided in section
315(a)(3).
‘‘(e) POLITICAL PARTY COMMITTEE DEFINED.—For
purposes of this section, the term ‘political party commit-
tee’ means a political committee which is a national, State,
district, or local political party committee (including any
subordinate committee thereof).’’.
SEC. 3. REQUIRING ANNUAL WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION
FOR USE OF PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS FOR PO-
LITICAL ACTIVITIES.
Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.), as amended by section 2,
is further amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
‘‘REQUIRING ANNUAL WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION FOR USE
OF PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
‘‘SEC. 324. (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR AUTHORIZATION
OF DEDUCTION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No amounts withheld from
an individual’s wages or salary during a year may be
used by any person receiving the withheld amounts
for any political activity unless there is in effect an
authorization in writing by the individual permitting
the withholding of such amounts for such activities.
‘‘(2) PERIOD OF AUTHORIZATION.—An author-
ization described in this subsection may be in effect
with respect to an individual for such period as the
individual may specify (subject to cancellation under
paragraph (3)), except that the period may not be
longer than 12 months.
‘‘(3) RIGHT OF CANCELLATION.—An individual
with an authorization in effect under this subsection
may cancel or revise the authorization at any time,
and any such cancellation or revision shall apply to
amounts used after the date of the cancellation or
revision.
‘‘(4) POLITICAL
ACTIVITY
DEFINED.—In this
section, the term ‘political activity’ means—
‘‘(A) attempting to influence legislation;
‘‘(B) participating or intervening in (in-
cluding the publishing or distributing of state-
ments) any political campaign on behalf of (or
in opposition to) any candidate for public office;
or
‘‘(C) influencing or attempting to influence
the selection, nomination, election, or appoint-
ment of any individual to any Federal, State, or
local public office or to any office in a political
party, committee, association or fund.
‘‘(b) INFORMATION PROVIDED
BY WITHHOLDING
ENTITY.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Each entity withholding
wages or salary from an individual with an author-
ization in effect under subsection (a) shall provide
the individual with a statement that the individual
may at any time cancel or revise the authorization
in accordance with subsection (a)(3).
‘‘(2) TIMING OF NOTICE.—The entity shall pro-
vide the information described in paragraph (1) to
an individual at the beginning of each calendar year
occurring during the period in which the individual’s
authorization is in effect.’’.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF LEADERSHIP COMMITTEES.
(a) LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE PROHIBITION.—Sec-
tion 302 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971
(2 U.S.C. 432) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subsection:
‘‘(j) A candidate for Federal office or an individual
holding Federal office may not establish, maintain, fi-
nance, or control a political committee, other than a prin-
cipal campaign committee of the candidate or the individ-
ual.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO JOINT
FUNDRAISING.—Section 302(e)(3)(A) of such Act (2
U.S.C. 432(e)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘except that—
’’ and all that follows and inserting the following: ‘‘except
that the candidate for the office of President nominated
by a political party may designate the national committee
of such political party as a principal campaign committee,
but only if that national committee maintains separate
books of account with respect to its function as a principal
campaign committee.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE; TRANSITION RULE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply with respect to elections oc-
curring in years beginning with 1999.
(2) TRANSITION RULE.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec-
tion 302(j) of the Federal Election Campaign
Act of 1971 (as added by subsection (a)), if a
political committee established, maintained, fi-
nanced, or controlled by a candidate for Federal
office or an individual holding Federal office
(other than a principal campaign committee of
the candidate or individual) with respect to an
election occurring during 1998 has funds re-
maining unexpended after the 1998 general
election, the committee may make contributions
or expenditures of such funds with respect to
elections occurring during 1999 or 2000.
(B) DISBANDING
COMMITTEES; 
TREAT-
MENT
OF
REMAINING
FUNDS.—Any political
committee described in subparagraph (A) shall
be disbanded after filing any post-election re-
ports required under section 304 of the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971 with respect to
the 2000 general election. Any funds of such a
committee which remain unexpended after the
2000 general election and before the date on
which the committee disbands shall be returned
to contributors or available for any lawful pur-
pose other than use by the candidate or individ-
ual involved with respect to an election for Fed-
eral office.
SEC. 5. REQUIRING REPORTING WITHIN 24 HOURS OF ALL
CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED WITHIN 20 DAYS
OF ELECTION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 304(a)(6)(A) of the Fed-
eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.
434(a)(6)(A)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(6)(A) Each political committee shall notify the Sec-
retary or the Commission, and the Secretary of State, as
appropriate, in writing, of any contribution received by the
committee during the period which begins on the 20th day
before an election and ends at the time the polls close for
such election. This notification shall be made within 24
hours (or, if earlier, by midnight of the day on which the
contribution is deposited) after the receipt of such con-
tribution and shall include the name of the candidate and
the office sought by the candidate, the identification of
the contributor, and the date of receipt and amount of
the contribution.’’.
(b) 
AVAILABILITY
OF
INFORMATION
ON
INTERNET.—Section 304(a)(6) of such Act (2 U.S.C.
434(a)(6)) is amended by adding at the end the following
new subparagraph:
‘‘(C)(i) The Commission shall make the information
contained in the reports submitted under this paragraph
available on the Internet and publicly available at the of-
fices of the Commission as soon as practicable (but in no
case later than 24 hours) after the information is received
by the Commission.
‘‘(ii) In this subparagraph, the term ‘Internet’ means
the international computer network of both Federal and
non-Federal interoperable packet-switched data net-
works.’’.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
Except where otherwise provided, the amendments
made by this Act shall apply with respect to elections oc-
curring after December 1998.
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