I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1818
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to improve the effi-
ciency of the Federal Election Commission, to authorize appropriations
for the Commission for fiscal year 2000, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 14, 1999
Mr. HOYER (for himself, Mr. FATTAH, and Mr. DAVIS of Florida) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Admin-
istration
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to
improve the efficiency of the Federal Election Commis-
sion, to authorize appropriations for the Commission for
fiscal year 2000, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘FEC Reform and Authorization Act of 1999’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. References in Act.
TITLE I—PROMOTING DISCLOSURE OF CAMPAIGN INFORMATION
Sec. 101. Filing of reports using computers.
Sec. 102. Campaign cycle reporting.
Sec. 103. Granting Commission authority to waive reporting requirements or
modify deadlines.
Sec. 104. Establishment of FEC as sole point of entry for reports.
Sec. 105. Prohibiting fraudulent misrepresentation in solicitation of contribu-
tions.
Sec. 106. Regulation of contributions and expenditures of draft committees.
Sec. 107. Permitting principal campaign committees to file reports on monthly
basis.
Sec. 108. Uniform 15-day deadline for semiannual, year-end, and monthly re-
ports.
Sec. 109. Clarification of permissible use of facsimile machines and electronic
mail to file reports.
Sec. 110. Requiring actual receipt of certain independent expenditure reports
within 24 hours.
Sec. 111. Requiring monthly filing for certain multicandidate political action
committees.
TITLE II—CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES
Sec. 201. Application of aggregate contribution limit on calendar year basis
during non-election years.
Sec. 202. Contributions from foreign nationals.
Sec. 203. Treatment of lines of credit obtained by candidates as commercially
reasonable loans.
Sec. 204. Broader prohibition against force and reprisals.
Sec. 205. Repeal Secretary of Commerce reports on district-specific population.
Sec. 206. Technical correction regarding treatment of honoraria.
Sec. 207. Banning acceptance of cash contributions greater than $100.
TITLE III—PROMOTING ENFORCEMENT OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE
LAWS
Sec. 301. Authorization of FEC to issue immunity orders.
Sec. 302. Alternative procedures for imposition of penalties for reporting viola-
tions.
Sec. 303. Extension of post-election period for audits for cause.
Sec. 304. Standard for initiation of actions.
Sec. 305. Signature authority of members of Commission for subpoenas and
reason-to-believe notification.
TITLE IV—PUBLIC FINANCING OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
CAMPAIGNS
Sec. 401. Eligibility threshold for primary matching funds.
Sec. 402. Elimination of State-specific expenditure limits for primary can-
didates.
Sec. 403. Elimination of separate limit on expenditures for fundraising for pri-
mary candidates.
Sec. 404. Eligibility requirements for public financing.
Sec. 405. Deposit of repayments into Presidential Election Campaign Fund.
Sec. 406. Banning contributions to presidential candidates certified to receive
public financing.
TITLE V—OTHER MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Sec. 501. Authorization of appropriations for Federal Election Commission.
Sec. 502. Requiring FEC to update national voting systems standards.
Sec. 503. Abolition of ex officio membership of Clerk of House of Representa-
tives and Secretary of Senate on Commission.
TITLE VI—EFFECTIVE DATE
Sec. 601. Effective date.
SEC. 2. REFERENCES IN ACT.
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in
this Act an amendment is expressed in terms of an amend-
ment to or repeal of a section or other provision, the ref-
erence shall be considered to be made to that section or
other provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 .
TITLE 
I—PROMOTING 
DISCLO-
SURE OF CAMPAIGN INFOR-
MATION
SEC. 101. FILING OF REPORTS USING COMPUTERS.
Section 304(a) (2 U.S.C. 434(a)) is amended by
striking paragraph (11) and inserting the following:
‘‘(11)(A) The Commission shall promulgate a regula-
tion under which a person required to file a designation,
statement, or report under this Act—
‘‘(i) is required to maintain and file a designa-
tion, statement, or report for any calendar year in
electronic form accessible by computers if the person
has, or has reason to expect to have, aggregate con-
tributions or expenditures in excess of a threshold
amount determined by the Commission; and
‘‘(ii) may maintain and file a designation, state-
ment, or report in electronic form or an alternative
form if not required to do so under the regulation
promulgated under clause (i).
‘‘(B) The Commission shall make a designation,
statement, report, or notification that is filed electronically
with the Commission accessible to the public on the Inter-
net not later than 24 hours after the designation, state-
ment, report, or notification is received by the Commis-
sion.
‘‘(C) In promulgating a regulation under this para-
graph, the Commission shall provide methods (other than
requiring a signature on the document being filed) for
verifying designations, statements, and reports covered by
the regulation. Any document verified under any of the
methods shall be treated for all purposes (including pen-
alties for perjury) in the same manner as a document
verified by signature.’’.
SEC. 102. CAMPAIGN CYCLE REPORTING.
Section 304(b) (2 U.S.C. 434(b)) is amended by in-
serting ‘‘(or election cycle, in the case of an authorized
committee of a candidate for Federal office)’’ after ‘‘cal-
endar year’’ each place it appears in paragraphs (2), (3),
(4), (6), and (7).
SEC. 103. GRANTING COMMISSION AUTHORITY TO WAIVE
REPORTING 
REQUIREMENTS 
OR 
MODIFY
DEADLINES.
Section 304 (2 U.S.C. 434) is amended by adding
at the end the following new subsection:
‘‘(d) The Commission may relieve any person or cat-
egory of persons of the obligation to file any of the reports
required by this section, or may change the due dates of
any of the reports required by this section, if it determines
that such action is consistent with the purposes of this
title. During each calendar quarter, the Commission shall
publish a list of each waiver granted under this subsection
during the previous quarter.’’.
SEC. 104. ESTABLISHMENT OF FEC AS SOLE POINT OF
ENTRY FOR REPORTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302(g) (2 U.S.C. 432(g))
is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(g) All designations, statements, and reports re-
quired to be filed under this Act shall be filed with the
Commission.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 304 (2
U.S.C. 434) is amended—