(1) The Supreme Court decision in Citizens 
United v. FEC allows a corporation to have in-
creased access to the election process by permitting 
unlimited disbursements from a corporation’s gen-
eral treasury funds for the purpose of political advo-
cacy. 
(2) As established in the Citizens United case, 
the Court rejected the argument that political speech 
of corporations or other associations should be treat-
ed differently under the First Amendment simply be-
cause such associations are not ‘‘natural persons’’, 
thereby granting corporations the same First 
Amendment rights as individuals regarding political 
advocacy. 
(3) In the United States, 48 States prohibit in-
dividuals from voting while incarcerated, and 2 
States permanently bar individuals convicted of a 
felony from voting. 
(4) Unlike individuals, corporations are not cur-
rently subject to any form of disenfranchisement 
from the political process due to the conviction of a 
crime. 
(5) Corporations should be subject to similar 
regulations and punishments as individuals for vio-
lating the law and the public’s trust. 
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITING CORPORATIONS SUBJECT TO CER-
TAIN CRIMINAL OR CIVIL SANCTIONS FROM 
ENGAGING IN CAMPAIGN-RELATED ACTIVITY. 
(a) PROHIBITION.—Section 316 of the Federal Elec-
tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441b) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(d) PROHIBITING CORPORATIONS SUBJECT TO CER-
TAIN SANCTIONS FROM ENGAGING
IN CAMPAIGN-RE-
LATED ACTIVITY.— 
‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—Subject to paragraph (2), 
a corporation described in subsection (a) may not 
engage in any campaign-related activity if the cor-
poration has been subject to any of the following 
sanctions: 
‘‘(A) The imposition of any criminal pen-
alty under any Federal law. 
‘‘(B) The imposition of a civil money pen-
alty under this Act. 
‘‘(C) The imposition of a civil money pen-
alty under any other Federal law in an amount 
equal to or greater than $1,000,000. 
‘‘(2) APPLICATION OF PROHIBITION.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall 
apply with respect to a corporation only during 
such period of time (if any) as may be deter-
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mined appropriate by the court or other entity 
which imposes the sanction involved. 
‘‘(B) STATEMENT IF PROHIBITION NOT AP-
PLIED.—If the court or other entity which im-
poses a sanction on a corporation determines 
that it is not appropriate to apply paragraph 
(1) to the corporation for any period of time, 
the court or other entity shall, at the time of 
imposing the sanction, publicly disseminate and 
file with the Commission a statement of the 
court’s or other entity’s reasons for not apply-
ing paragraph (1) to the corporation. 
‘‘(3) CAMPAIGN-RELATED ACTIVITY DEFINED.— 
In this paragraph, the term ‘campaign-related activ-
ity’ means, with respect to a corporation— 
‘‘(A) the making of a contribution by a 
separate segregated fund of the organization es-
tablished and administered pursuant to sub-
section (b)(2)(C); 
‘‘(B) the disbursement of funds for an 
independent expenditure; or 
‘‘(C) the disbursement of funds for an elec-
tioneering communication described in section 
304(f).’’. 
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(b) DISSEMINATION
OF INFORMATION
ON AVAIL-
ABILITY OF SANCTION.—Upon the enactment of this Act, 
the Federal Election Commission shall disseminate infor-
mation to the public, and shall notify each State, regard-
ing the availability of the prohibition described in section 
316(d) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 
added by subsection (a), as a sanction applicable to cor-
porations subject to any of the sanctions described in sec-
tion 316(d)(1) of such Act. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to penalties im-
posed on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. SEVERABILITY. 
If any provision of this Act or amendment made by 
this Act, or the application of a provision or amendment 
to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu-
tional, the remainder of this Act and amendments made 
by this Act, and the application of the provisions and 
amendment to any person or circumstance, shall not be 
affected by the holding. 
Æ 
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