I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2533
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to reduce the influence
of political action committees in elections for Federal office, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 17, 2001
Mr. SMITH of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on House Administration
A BILL
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to
reduce the influence of political action committees in
elections for Federal office, 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 ‘‘PAC Limitation Act
of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. BAN ON POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE CONTRIBU-
TIONS TO CANDIDATES IN ELECTIONS FOR
FEDERAL OFFICE.
Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:
‘‘BAN ON CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES BY POLITICAL
ACTION COMMITTEES
‘‘SEC. 323. (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any
other provision of this Act, no political action committee
may make any contribution to any candidate or any au-
thorized committee of the candidate with respect to any
election for Federal office.
‘‘(b) POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE DEFINED.—In
this section, the term ‘political action committee’ means
any political committee which is not—
‘‘(1) an authorized committee of a candidate; or
‘‘(2) a national, State, local, or district com-
mittee of a political party, including any subordinate
committee thereof.’’.
SEC. 3. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTION LIMITA-
TION ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SOURCES
OUTSIDE THE DISTRICT.
Section 315 of the Federal Election Campaign Act
of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a) is amended by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
‘‘(i) A candidate for the office of Representative in,
or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress
may not, with respect to a reporting period for an election,
accept contributions from all sources outside the congres-
sional district involved totaling in excess of the total of
contributions accepted from individual residents of the
congressional district involved.’’.
SEC. 4. LIMITATION ON ACCEPTANCE OF SOFT MONEY BY
NATIONAL AND CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT-
TEES OF POLITICAL PARTIES.
Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.), as amended by section 2,
is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘LIMITATION ON ACCEPTANCE OF SOFT MONEY BY NA-
TIONAL AND CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES OF PO-
LITICAL PARTIES
‘‘SEC. 324. A national committee of a political party
and the congressional campaign committees of a political
party may not, in any calendar year, accept more than
$25,000 from any single person in contributions or trans-
fers that are not otherwise subject to the limitations, pro-
hibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act.’’.
SEC. 5. REPORTS ON FEDERAL POLITICAL ADVERTISE-
MENTS CARRIED BY RADIO STATIONS, TELE-
VISION STATIONS, AND CABLE SYSTEMS.
Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.), as amended by sections 2
and 4, is further amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new section:
‘‘REPORTS
ON
FEDERAL
POLITICAL
ADVERTISEMENTS
CARRIED
BY
RADIO
STATIONS, TELEVISION
STA-
TIONS, AND CABLE SYSTEMS
‘‘SEC. 325. At such times and in such manner as the
Commission shall prescribe by regulation, each operator
of a radio broadcasting station, television broadcasting
station, or cable system shall report to the Commission
the identity of each advertiser, the cost, the duration, and
other appropriate information with respect to each Fed-
eral political advertisement carried by the station or sys-
tem, including any advertisement advocating the passage
or defeat of Federal legislation, any advertisement advo-
cating the election or defeat of a candidate for Federal
office, and any advertisement characterizing the positions
taken by such a candidate.’’.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect
on January 1, 2002.
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