Title: Anti-Collusion Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Anti-Collusion Act
This bill expands the ban on solicitations of campaign contributions or donations by foreign nationals to include providing nonpublic campaign information, including polling data and opposition research. Specifically, the ban shall apply if a candidate, a political committee, or an affiliate offers or provides nonpublic campaign material to a foreign power.
Upon receipt of an offer of assistance by a foreign power, a candidate, committee, or individual must report the offer to the Department of Justice within 72 hours.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3236 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3236

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to treat the sharing 
 of nonpublic campaign material by a candidate or political committee 
with a foreign power as the solicitation of a contribution or donation 
 in support of the candidate or committee from a foreign national for 
purposes of the ban on such solicitations under such Act, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 2019

 Mr. Malinowski (for himself, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Himes, Mr. Phillips, and 
   Mr. Casten of Illinois) 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 treat the sharing 
 of nonpublic campaign material by a candidate or political committee 
with a foreign power as the solicitation of a contribution or donation 
 in support of the candidate or committee from a foreign national for 
purposes of the ban on such solicitations under such Act, 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 ``Anti-Collusion Act''.

SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON EXCHANGE OF CAMPAIGN INFORMATION BETWEEN 
              CANDIDATES AND FOREIGN POWERS.

    Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 
30121) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c) Restrictions on Exchange of Information Between Candidates 
and Foreign Powers.--
            ``(1) Treatment of offer to share nonpublic campaign 
        material as solicitation of contribution from foreign 
        national.--If a candidate or an individual affiliated with the 
        campaign of a candidate, or if a political committee or an 
        individual affiliated with a political committee, provides or 
        offers to provide nonpublic campaign material to a foreign 
        power or an agent of a foreign power or to another person whom 
        the candidate, committee, or individual knows or has reason to 
        know will provide the material to a foreign power or an agent 
        of a foreign power, the candidate, committee, or individual (as 
        the case may be) shall be considered for purposes of this 
        section to have solicited a contribution or donation described 
        in subsection (a)(1)(A) from a foreign national.
            ``(2) Suspicious activity reports.--
                    ``(A) Duty to file.--If a candidate or any 
                individual affiliated with a campaign of a candidate, 
                or if a political committee or an individual affiliated 
                with a political committee, knowingly receives an offer 
                of assistance with respect to the campaign or the 
                committee from a person the candidate, committee, or 
                individual knows is a foreign power or an agent of a 
                foreign power, not later than 72 hours after receiving 
                the offer the candidate, committee, or individual shall 
                file a suspicious activity report with the Attorney 
                General (or such official as may be designated by the 
                Attorney General for purposes of this paragraph) which 
                describes the offer, and shall include in the report 
                (to the extent known) the name, address, and 
                nationality of the foreign power or agent making the 
                offer.
                    ``(B) Referral.--Upon receiving a suspicious 
                activity report under subparagraph (A), the Attorney 
                General shall refer the report to the Secretary of 
                State and the Commission. The Commission may take such 
                action in response to the report as may be authorized 
                under section 309, without regard to whether or not the 
                Attorney General takes any action in response to the 
                report.
                    ``(C) Effective date.--This paragraph shall take 
                effect upon the expiration of the 120-day period which 
                begins on the date of the enactment of this paragraph.
            ``(3) Definitions.--In this subsection, the following 
        definitions apply:
                    ``(A) The term `agent of a foreign power' means any 
                person who acts as an agent, representative, employee 
                or servant, or any person who acts in any other 
                capacity at the order, request, or under the direction 
                or control, of a foreign power or of any person whose 
                activities are directly or indirectly supervised, 
                directed, controlled, financed, or subsidized in whole 
                or in major part by a foreign power.
                    ``(B) The term `candidate' means an individual who 
                seeks nomination for, or election to, any Federal, 
                State, or local public office.
                    ``(C) The term `foreign power' means--
                            ``(i) a government of a foreign country, as 
                        defined in section 1(e) of the Foreign Agents 
                        Registration Act of 1938, as Amended (22 U.S.C. 
                        611(e));
                            ``(ii) a foreign political party, as 
                        defined in section 1(f) of the Foreign Agents 
                        Registration Act of 1938, as Amended (22 U.S.C. 
                        611(f)); or
                            ``(iii) a partnership, association, 
                        corporation, organization, or other combination 
                        of persons organized under the laws of or 
                        having its principal place of business in a 
                        foreign country.
                    ``(D) The term `individual affiliated with a 
                campaign' means, with respect to a candidate, an 
                employee of any organization legally authorized under 
                Federal, State, or local law to support the candidate's 
                campaign for nomination for, or election to, any 
                Federal, State, or local public office, as well as any 
                independent contractor of such an organization and any 
                individual who performs services on behalf of the 
                organization, whether paid or unpaid.
                    ``(E) The term `individual affiliated with a 
                political committee' means, with respect to a political 
                committee, an employee of the committee as well as any 
                independent contractor of the committee and any 
                individual who performs services on behalf of the 
                committee, whether paid or unpaid.
                    ``(F) The term `nonpublic campaign material' means, 
                with respect to a candidate or a political committee, 
                campaign material that is produced by the candidate or 
                the committee or produced at the candidate or 
                committee's expense or request which is not distributed 
                or made available to the general public or otherwise in 
                the public domain, including polling and focus group 
                data and opposition research, except that such term 
                does not include material produced for purposes of 
                consultations relating solely to the candidate's or 
                committee's position on a legislative or policy matter.
                    ``(G) The term `offer of assistance' means, with 
                respect to a candidate or a political committee, an 
                offer to provide direct assistance to the candidate or 
                committee with respect to activities of the candidate 
                or committee, including an offer to provide polling 
                information, opposition research, or similar 
                information, including information that would 
                reasonably be expected to have been obtained through 
                illicit means, except that such term does not include 
                an offer to engage in consultations relating solely to 
                the candidate's or committee's position on a 
                legislative or policy matter or an offer to provide 
                material produced solely for purposes of such 
                consultations.''.

SEC. 3. DUTY OF CANDIDATES AND COMMITTEES TO FILE SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY 
              REPORTS AFTER RECEIVING OFFER OF UNLAWFUL ASSISTANCE.

    Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 
30101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``SEC. 325. DUTY OF CANDIDATES AND COMMITTEES TO FILE SUSPICIOUS 
              ACTIVITY REPORTS AFTER RECEIVING OFFER OF UNLAWFUL 
              ASSISTANCE.

    ``(a) Duty To File.--If a candidate or any individual affiliated 
with a campaign of a candidate, or if a political committee or an 
individual affiliated with a political committee, knowingly receives an 
offer of unlawful assistance with respect to the campaign or committee 
from any person, not later than 72 hours after receiving the offer the 
candidate, committee, or individual shall file a suspicious activity 
report with the Attorney General (or such official as may be designated 
by the Attorney General for purposes of this paragraph) which describes 
the offer, and shall include in the report (to the extent known) the 
name and address of the person making the offer.
    ``(b) Referral.--Upon receiving a suspicious activity report under 
subparagraph (A), the Attorney General shall refer the report to the 
Commission. The Commission may take such action in response to the 
report as may be authorized under section 309, without regard to 
whether or not the Attorney General takes any action in response to the 
report.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions 
apply:
            ``(1) The term `individual affiliated with a campaign' 
        means, with respect to a candidate, an employee of any 
        authorized committee of the candidate, as well as any 
        independent contractor of an authorized committee of the 
        candidate and any individual who performs services on behalf of 
        the committee, whether paid or unpaid.
            ``(2) The term `individual affiliated with a political 
        committee' means, with respect to a political committee, an 
        employee of the committee as well as any independent contractor 
        of the committee and any individual who performs services on 
        behalf of the committee, whether paid or unpaid.
            ``(3) The term `offer of unlawful assistance' means, with 
        respect to a candidate or a political committee, an offer by a 
        person to provide direct assistance to the candidate or 
        committee which consists of providing information (including 
        polling information, opposition research, or similar 
        information) that the candidate, committee, or individual knows 
        or reasonably should know was obtained by such person through 
        illicit means, except that such term does not include an offer 
        to engage in consultations relating solely to the candidate's 
        or committee's position on a legislative or policy matter or an 
        offer to provide material produced solely for purposes of such 
        consultations.
    ``(d) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect upon the 
expiration of the 120-day period which begins on the date of the 
enactment of this section.''.
                                 <all>