109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 513
AN ACT 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 
clarify when organizations described in section 527 of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 must register as 
political committees, 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 ‘‘527 Reform Act of 
2006’’. 
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF SECTION 527 ORGANIZATIONS. 
(a) DEFINITION OF POLITICAL COMMITTEE.—Sec-
tion 301(4) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 
(2 U.S.C. 431(4)) is amended—
(1) by striking the period at the end of sub-
paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(D) any applicable 527 organization.’’. 
(b) DEFINITION
OF APPLICABLE 527 ORGANIZA-
TION.—Section 301 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 431) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(27) APPLICABLE 527 ORGANIZATION.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of paragraph 
(4)(D), the term ‘applicable 527 organization’ means 
a committee, club, association, or group of persons 
that—
‘‘(i) has given notice to the Secretary of 
the Treasury under section 527(i) of the Inter-
nal Revenue Code of 1986 that it is to be treat-
ed as an organization described in section 527 
of such Code; and 
‘‘(ii) is not described in subparagraph (B).
‘‘(B) EXCEPTED
ORGANIZATIONS.—A com-
mittee, club, association, or other group of persons 
described in this subparagraph is—
‘‘(i) an organization described in section 
527(i)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986; 
‘‘(ii) an organization which is a committee, 
club, association or other group of persons that 
is organized, operated, and makes disburse-
ments exclusively for paying expenses described 
in the last sentence of section 527(e)(2) of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or expenses of 
a newsletter fund described in section 527(g) of 
such Code; 
‘‘(iii) an organization which is a com-
mittee, club, association, or other group that 
consists solely of candidates for State or local 
office, individuals holding State or local office, 
or any combination of either, but only if the or-
ganization refers only to one or more non-Fed-
eral candidates or applicable State or local 
issues in all of its voter drive activities and does 
not refer to a Federal candidate or a political 
party in any of its voter drive activities; or
‘‘(iv) an organization described in subpara-
graph (C). 
‘‘(C) APPLICABLE
ORGANIZATION.—For pur-
poses of subparagraph (B)(iv), an organization de-
scribed in this subparagraph is a committee, club, 
association, or other group of persons whose election 
or nomination activities relate exclusively to—
‘‘(i) elections where no candidate for Fed-
eral office appears on the ballot; or 
‘‘(ii) one or more of the following purposes: 
‘‘(I) Influencing the selection, nomina-
tion, election, or appointment of one or 
more candidates to non-Federal offices. 
‘‘(II) Influencing one or more applica-
ble State or local issues. 
‘‘(III) Influencing the selection, ap-
pointment, nomination, or confirmation of 
one or more individuals to non-elected of-
fices. 
‘‘(D) EXCLUSIVITY TEST.—A committee, club, 
association, or other group of persons shall not be 
treated as meeting the exclusivity requirement of 
subparagraph (C) if it makes disbursements aggre-
gating more than $1,000 for any of the following:
‘‘(i) A public communication that pro-
motes, supports, attacks, or opposes a clearly 
identified candidate for Federal office during 
the 1-year period ending on the date of the gen-
eral election for the office sought by the clearly 
identified candidate (or, if a runoff election is 
held with respect to such general election, on 
the date of the runoff election). 
‘‘(ii) Any voter drive activity during a cal-
endar year, except that no disbursements for 
any voter drive activity shall be taken into ac-
count under this subparagraph if the com-
mittee, club, association, or other group of per-
sons during such calendar year—
‘‘(I) makes disbursements for voter 
drive activities with respect to elections in 
only 1 State and complies with all applica-
ble election laws of that State, including 
laws related to registration and reporting 
requirements and contribution limitations; 
‘‘(II) refers to one or more non-Fed-
eral candidates or applicable State or local 
issues in all of its voter drive activities and 
does not refer to any Federal candidate or
any political party in any of its voter drive 
activities; 
‘‘(III) does not have a candidate for 
Federal office, an individual who holds any 
Federal office, a national political party, or 
an agent of any of the foregoing, control or 
materially participate in the direction of 
the organization, solicit contributions to 
the organization (other than funds which 
are described under clauses (i) and (ii) of 
section 323(e)(1)(B)), or direct disburse-
ments, in whole or in part, by the organi-
zation; and 
‘‘(IV) makes no contributions to Fed-
eral candidates. 
‘‘(E) CERTAIN REFERENCES TO FEDERAL CAN-
DIDATES NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—For purposes 
of subparagraphs (B)(iii) and (D)(ii)(II), a voter 
drive activity shall not be treated as referring to a 
clearly identified Federal candidate if the only ref-
erence to the candidate in the activity is—
‘‘(i) a reference in connection with an elec-
tion for a non-Federal office in which such Fed-
eral candidate is also a candidate for such non-
Federal office; or