OMAR Act
Bill: H.R.856 | Sponsor: Rep. Tiffany, Thomas P. (R-WI)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Oversight for Members And Relatives Act or the OMAR Act
This bill prohibits the use of campaign funds to compensate the spouse of a candidate or an individual holding federal office. It also requires disclosure of payments made to spouses or immediate family members.
Specifically, the bill prohibits an authorized committee of a candidate or any other political committee that is established, maintained, or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding federal office from directly or indirectly compensating the spouse of the candidate or individual for services provided to or on behalf of the committee. The prohibition does not apply to a political committee of a political party.
Next, the bill requires a political committee to report on disbursements to the spouse or an immediate family member of the candidate or the individual holding federal office.
Finally, the bill requires any penalty for a violation of the bill to be imposed on the candidate or the individual holding federal office if the candidate or individual involved knew of the violation. Further, it prohibits the committee involved from reimbursing the candidate or individual for the penalty.

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit certain 
political committees from compensating the spouse of the candidate for 
  services provided to or on behalf of the committee, to require such 
 committees to report on payments made to the spouse and the immediate 
        family members of the candidate, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Oversight for Members And Relatives 
Act'' or the ``OMAR Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO COMPENSATE SPOUSES OF 
              CANDIDATES; DISCLOSURE OF PAYMENTS MADE TO SPOUSES AND 
              FAMILY MEMBERS.

    (a) Prohibition; Disclosure.--Section 313 of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30114) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection:
    ``(c) Prohibiting Compensation of Spouses; Disclosure of Payments 
to Spouses and Family Members.--
            ``(1) Prohibiting compensation of spouses.--Notwithstanding 
        any other provision of this Act, no authorized committee of a 
        candidate or any other political committee established, 
        maintained, or controlled by a candidate or an individual 
        holding Federal office (other than a political committee of a 
        political party) shall directly or indirectly compensate the 
        spouse of the candidate or individual (as the case may be) for 
        services provided to or on behalf of the committee.
            ``(2) Disclosure of payments to spouses and immediate 
        family members.--In addition to any other information included 
        in a report submitted under section 304 by a committee 
        described in paragraph (1), the committee shall include in the 
        report a separate statement of any payments, including direct 
        or indirect compensation, made to the spouse or any immediate 
        family member of the candidate or individual involved during 
        the period covered by the report.
            ``(3) Immediate family member defined.--In this subsection, 
        the term `immediate family member' means the son, daughter, 
        son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother, father, brother, sister, 
        brother-in-law, sister-in-law, or grandchild of the candidate 
        or individual involved.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 313(a)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 
30114(a)(1)) is amended by striking ``for otherwise'' and inserting 
``subject to subsection (c), for otherwise''.

SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF PENALTY AGAINST CANDIDATE OR OFFICEHOLDER.

    (a) In General.--Section 309 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 
of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30109) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection:
    ``(e) In the case of a violation of section 313(c) committed by a 
committee described in such section, if the candidate or individual 
involved knew of the violation, any penalty imposed under this section 
shall be imposed on the candidate or individual and not on the 
committee.''.
    (b) Prohibiting Reimbursement by Committee.--Section 313(c) of such 
Act (52 U.S.C. 30114(c)), as added by section 2(a), is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(3) Prohibiting reimbursement by committee of penalty 
        paid by candidate for violations.--A committee described in 
        paragraph (1) may not make any payment to reimburse the 
        candidate or individual involved for any penalty imposed for a 
        violation of this subsection which is required to be paid by 
        the candidate or individual under section 309(e).''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to 
compensation and payments made on or after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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