I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1613 
To direct the Federal Election Commission to carry out a voucher pilot 
program under which individuals may use vouchers to make small dollar 
contributions to qualified candidates for election for the office of Rep-
resentative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 7, 2019 
Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on House Administration 
A BILL 
To direct the Federal Election Commission to carry out 
a voucher pilot program under which individuals may 
use vouchers to make small dollar contributions to quali-
fied candidates for election for the office of Representa-
tive in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the 
Congress, 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 ‘‘Democracy Dollars 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Federal Election Com-
mission (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commis-
sion’’) shall establish a pilot program under which the 
Commission shall select 3 eligible States to operate a 
voucher pilot program which is described in section 3 dur-
ing the program operation period. 
(b) ELIGIBILITY OF STATES.—A State is eligible to 
be selected to operate a voucher pilot program under this 
Act if, not later than 180 days after the beginning of the 
program application period, the State submits to the Com-
mission an application containing— 
(1) information and assurances that the State 
will operate a voucher program which contains the 
elements described in section 3(a); 
(2) information and assurances that the State 
will establish fraud prevention mechanisms described 
in section 3(b); 
(3) information and assurances that the State 
will establish a commission to oversee and implement 
the program as described in section 3(c); 
(4) information and assurances that the State 
will carry out a public information campaign as de-
scribed in section 3(d); 
(5) information and assurances that the State 
will submit reports as required under section 4; and 
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(6) such other information and assurances as 
the Commission may require. 
(c) SELECTION OF PARTICIPATING STATES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 
the beginning of the program application period, the 
Commission shall select the 3 States which will oper-
ate voucher pilot programs under this Act. 
(2) CRITERIA.—In selecting States for the oper-
ation of the voucher pilot programs under this Act, 
the Commission shall apply such criteria and metrics 
as the Commission considers appropriate to deter-
mine the ability of a State to operate the program 
successfully, and shall attempt to select States in a 
variety of geographic regions and with a variety of 
political party preferences. 
(3) NO SUPERMAJORITY REQUIRED FOR SELEC-
TION.—The selection of States by the Commission 
under this subsection shall require the approval of 
only half of the Members of the Commission. 
(d) DUTIES OF STATES DURING PROGRAM PREPARA-
TION PERIOD.—During the program preparation period, 
each State selected to operate a voucher pilot program 
under this Act shall take such actions as may be necessary 
to ensure that the State will be ready to operate the pro-
gram during the program operation period, and shall com-
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plete such actions not later than 90 days before the begin-
ning of the program operation period. 
(e) TERMINATION.—Each voucher pilot program 
under this Act shall terminate as of the first day after 
the program operation period. 
(f) REIMBURSEMENT OF COSTS.—Upon receiving the 
report submitted by a State under section 4(a) with re-
spect to an election cycle, the Commission shall transmit 
a payment to the State in an amount equal to the reason-
able costs incurred by the State in operating the voucher 
pilot program under this Act during the cycle. 
SEC. 3. VOUCHER PROGRAM DESCRIBED. 
(a) GENERAL ELEMENTS OF PROGRAM.— 
(1) ELEMENTS DESCRIBED.—The elements of a 
voucher pilot program operated by a State under 
this Act are as follows: 
(A) The State shall provide each qualified 
individual upon the individual’s request with a 
voucher worth $25 to be known as a ‘‘My Voice 
Voucher’’ during the election cycle which will be 
assigned a routing number and which at the op-
tion of the individual will be provided in either 
paper or electronic form. 
(B) Using the routing number assigned to 
the My Voice Voucher, the individual may sub-
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mit the My Voice Voucher in either electronic 
or paper form to qualified candidates for elec-
tion for the office of Representative in, or Dele-
gate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress 
and allocate such portion of the value of the My 
Voice Voucher in increments of $5 as the indi-
vidual may select to any such candidate. 
(C) If the candidate transmits the My 
Voice Voucher to the Commission, the Commis-
sion shall pay the candidate the portion of the 
value of the My Voice Voucher that the indi-
vidual allocated to the candidate, which shall be 
considered a contribution by the individual to 
the candidate for purposes of the Federal Elec-
tion Campaign Act of 1971. 
(2) DESIGNATION
OF
QUALIFIED
INDIVID-
UALS.—For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), a ‘‘quali-
fied individual’’ with respect to a State means an in-
dividual— 
(A) who is a resident of the State; 
(B) who will be of voting age as of the 
date of the election for the candidate to whom 
the individual submits a My Voice Voucher; and 
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(C) who is not prohibited under Federal 
law from making contributions to candidates 
for election for Federal office. 
(3) TREATMENT
AS
CONTRIBUTION
TO
CAN-
DIDATE.—For purposes of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971, the submission of a My 
Voice Voucher to a candidate by an individual shall 
be treated as a contribution to the candidate by the 
individual in the amount of the portion of the value 
of the Voucher that the individual allocated to the 
candidate. 
(b) FRAUD PREVENTION MECHANISM.—In addition 
to the elements described in subsection (a), a State oper-
ating a voucher pilot program under this Act shall permit 
an individual to revoke a My Voice Voucher not later than 
2 days after submitting the My Voice Voucher to a can-
didate. 
(c) OVERSIGHT COMMISSION.—In addition to the ele-
ments described in subsection (a), a State operating a 
voucher pilot program under this Act shall establish a 
commission or designate an existing entity to oversee and 
implement the program in the State, except that no such 
commission or entity may be comprised of elected officials. 
(d) PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN.—In addition 
to the elements described in subsection (a), a State oper-
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ating a voucher pilot program under this Act shall carry 
out a public information campaign to disseminate aware-
ness of the program among qualified individuals. 
SEC. 4. REPORTS. 
(a) PRELIMINARY
REPORT.—Not later than 6 
months after the first election cycle of the program oper-
ation period, a State which operates a voucher pilot pro-
gram under this Act shall submit a report to the Commis-
sion analyzing the operation and effectiveness of the pro-
gram during the cycle and including such other informa-
tion as the Commission may require. 
(b) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 
the end of the program operation period, the State shall 
submit a final report to the Commission analyzing the op-
eration and effectiveness of the program and including 
such other information as the Commission may require. 
(c) REPORT BY COMMISSION.—Not later than the 
end of the first election cycle which begins after the pro-
gram operation period, the Commission shall submit a re-
port to Congress which summarizes and analyzes the re-
sults of the voucher pilot program, and shall include in 
the report such recommendations as the Commission con-
siders appropriate regarding the expansion of the pilot 
program to all States and territories, along with such 
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