I 
★
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 269 
To reform the financing of House elections, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 15, 2013 
Mr. YARMUTH (for himself, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. NOLAN, Mr. LARSON 
of Connecticut, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. CHU, Mr. 
CICILLINE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COOPER, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. 
DEUTCH, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Mr. HIMES, Mr. HOLT, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of 
Texas, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. JONES, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. MAFFEI, 
Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. GEORGE MILLER 
of California, Mr. MORAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PETERS of Michigan, Mr. 
POLIS, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. 
SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. TONKO, Ms. 
TSONGAS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WELCH, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SHER-
MAN, Ms. DELAURO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. OWENS, Mr. MCDERMOTT, 
Ms. MATSUI, Ms. HAHN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. O’ROURKE, Ms. WILSON of 
Florida, and Mr. KIND) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on House Administration 
A BILL 
To reform the financing of House elections, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Fair Elections Now Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings and declarations. 
TITLE I—FAIR ELECTIONS FINANCING OF HOUSE ELECTION 
CAMPAIGNS 
Sec. 101. Benefits and eligibility requirements for House candidates. 
‘‘TITLE V—FAIR ELECTIONS FINANCING OF HOUSE ELECTION 
CAMPAIGNS 
‘‘Subtitle A—Benefits 
‘‘Sec. 501. Benefits for participating candidates. 
‘‘Sec. 502. Allocations from the Fund. 
‘‘Sec. 503. Matching payments for certain small dollar contributions. 
‘‘Subtitle B—Eligibility and Certification 
‘‘Sec. 511. Eligibility. 
‘‘Sec. 512. Qualifying requirements. 
‘‘Sec. 513. Certification. 
‘‘Subtitle C—Requirements for Candidates Certified as Participating 
Candidates 
‘‘Sec. 521. Contribution, expenditure, and fundraising requirements. 
‘‘Sec. 522. Debate requirement. 
‘‘Sec. 523. Remitting unspent funds after election. 
‘‘Subtitle D—Administrative Provisions 
‘‘Sec. 531. Fair Elections Fund. 
‘‘Sec. 532. Fair Elections Oversight Board. 
‘‘Sec. 533. Administration by Commission. 
‘‘Sec. 534. Violations and penalties. 
‘‘Sec. 535. Election cycle defined. 
Sec. 102. Transfer of portion of civil money penalties into Fair Elections Fund. 
Sec. 103. Prohibiting use of contributions by participating candidates for pur-
poses other than campaign for election. 
Sec. 104. Prohibition on joint fundraising committees. 
Sec. 105. Treatment of coordinated expenditures by political party committees 
on behalf of participating candidates. 
TITLE II—RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FEDERAL ELECTION 
COMMISSION 
Sec. 201. Petition for certiorari. 
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Sec. 202. Filing by all candidates with Commission. 
Sec. 203. Electronic filing of FEC reports. 
TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 
Sec. 301. Severability. 
Sec. 302. Effective date. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS. 
(a) UNDERMINING OF DEMOCRACY BY CAMPAIGN 
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PRIVATE SOURCES.—The House 
of Representatives finds and declares that the current sys-
tem of privately financed campaigns for election to the 
House of Representatives has the capacity, and is often 
perceived by the public, to undermine democracy in the 
United States by— 
(1) creating a culture that fosters actual or per-
ceived conflicts of interest, by encouraging Members 
of the House to accept large campaign contributions 
from private interests that are directly affected by 
Federal legislation; 
(2) diminishing or appearing to diminish Mem-
bers’ accountability to constituents by compelling 
legislators to be accountable to the major contribu-
tors who finance their election campaigns; 
(3) undermining the meaning of the right to 
vote by allowing monied interests to have a dis-
proportionate and unfair influence within the polit-
ical process; 
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(4) imposing large, unwarranted costs on tax-
payers through legislative and regulatory distortions 
caused by unequal access to lawmakers for campaign 
contributors; 
(5) making it difficult for some qualified can-
didates to mount competitive House election cam-
paigns; 
(6) disadvantaging challengers and discouraging 
competitive elections, because large campaign con-
tributors tend to donate their money to incumbent 
Members, thus causing House elections to be less 
competitive; and 
(7) burdening incumbents with a preoccupation 
with fundraising and thus decreasing the time avail-
able to carry out their public responsibilities. 
(b) ENHANCEMENT OF DEMOCRACY BY PROVIDING 
ALLOCATIONS FROM THE FAIR ELECTIONS FUND.—The 
House of Representatives finds and declares that pro-
viding the option of the replacement of large private cam-
paign contributions with allocations from the Fair Elec-
tions Fund for all primary, runoff, and general elections 
to the House of Representatives would enhance American 
democracy by— 
(1) reducing the actual or perceived conflicts of 
interest created by fully private financing of the elec-
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