I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 181
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to reform the financing
of elections for Members of the House of Representatives, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 7, 1997
Mr. GOSS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on House Oversight, and in addition to the Committee on Commerce, 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 com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to
reform the financing of elections for Members of the
House of Representatives, 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. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION LIMI-
TATION ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PERSONS
OTHER THAN LOCAL INDIVIDUAL RESIDENTS.
Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act
of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a) is amended by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
‘‘(i) A candidate for the office of Representative in,
or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress
may not accept contributions with respect to a reporting
period for an election—
‘‘(1) from persons other than individual resi-
dents of the congressional district involved in excess
of 50 percent of the total of contributions accepted;
or
‘‘(2) from persons other than individual resi-
dents of the State in which the congressional district
involved is located in excess of 10 percent of the
total of contributions accepted.’’.
SEC. 2. REDUCTION IN LIMITATION AMOUNT APPLICABLE
TO CONTRIBUTIONS BY A MULTICANDIDATE
POLITICAL COMMITTEE TO A HOUSE OF REP-
RESENTATIVES CANDIDATE.
Section 315(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Election Cam-
paign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)(A)) is amended
by inserting after ‘‘$5,000’’ the following: ‘‘, except that
in the case of an election for the office of Representative
in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Con-
gress, the limitation shall be $1,000’’.
SEC. 3. BAN ON SOFT MONEY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—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:
‘‘LIMITATIONS AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR
AMOUNTS PAID FOR MIXED POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
‘‘SEC. 323. (a) IN GENERAL.—Any payment by the
national committee of a political party or a State commit-
tee of a political party for a mixed political activity—
‘‘(1) shall be subject to limitation and reporting
under this Act as if such payment were an expendi-
ture; and
‘‘(2) may be paid only from an account that is
subject to the requirements of this Act.
‘‘(b) MIXED POLITICAL ACTIVITY DEFINED.—As
used in this section, the term ‘mixed political activity’
means, with respect to a payment by the national commit-
tee of a political party or a State committee of a political
party, an activity, such as a voter registration program,
a get-out-the-vote drive, or general political advertising,
that is both for the purpose of influencing an election for
Federal office and for any purpose unrelated to influenc-
ing an election for Federal office.’’.
(b) REPEAL OF BUILDING FUND EXCEPTION TO THE
DEFINITION OF THE TERM ‘‘CONTRIBUTION’’.—Section
301(8)(B) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 431(8)(B)) is amended—
(1) by striking clause (viii); and
(2) by redesignating clauses (ix) through (xiv)
as clauses (viii) through (xiii).
SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.
Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 315) is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)(1)—
(A) by striking ‘‘forty-five’’ and inserting
‘‘30’’,
(B) by striking ‘‘sixty’’ and inserting ‘‘45’’,
and
(C) by striking ‘‘lowest unit charge of the
station for the same class and amount of time
for the same period’’ and insert ‘‘lowest charge
of the station for the same amount of time for
the same period’’;
(2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as
subsections (d) and (e);
(3) by inserting immediately after subsection
(b) the following new subsection:
‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), a li-
censee shall not preempt the use, during any period speci-
fied in subsection (b)(1), of a broadcasting station by a
legally qualified candidate for public office who has pur-
chased and paid for such use pursuant to the provisions
of subsection (b)(1).
‘‘(2) If a program to be broadcast by a broadcasting
station is preempted because of circumstances beyond the
control of the broadcasting station, any candidate adver-
tising spot scheduled to be broadcast during that program
may also be preempted.’’; and
(4) in subsection (d) (as redesignated by para-
graph (2))—
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-
graph (1),
(B) by striking the period at the end of
paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and
(C) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(3) a station’s lowest charge for purposes of
paragraph (1)—
‘‘(A) with respect to a primary or primary
runoff election, is determined for the interval
beginning 60 days before such election and end-
ing on the date of that election; and
‘‘(B) with respect to a general or special
election, is determined for the interval begin-
ning 90 days before such election and ending on
the date of that election.’’.
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