FIRE Act

Bill: 118-hr-153
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Fallon, Pat [R-TX-4]
Introduced: 2023-01-09
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Civil actions and liability

Elections, voting, political campaign regulation

Family relationships

Federal officials

Members of Congress
Latest action: action_date: 2023-01-09
text: Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-01-09
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Family Integrity to Reform Elections Act or the FIRE Act</strong></p> <p>This bill prohibits the use of campaign funds to compensate the immediate family member of a candidate or an individual holding federal office. It also requires disclosure of payments made to immediate family members.</p> <p>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 immediate family member 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.</p> <p>Next, the bill requires a political committee to report on disbursements to an immediate family member of the candidate or the individual holding federal office.</p> <p>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.</p>

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 153 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 9, 2023 Mr. Fallon (for himself and Mr. Jackson of Texas ) 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 prohibit certain political committees from compensating an immediate family member of the candidate for services provided to or on behalf of the committee, to require such committees to report on payments made to immediate family members of the candidate, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Family Integrity to Reform Elections Act or the FIRE Act . 2. Prohibiting use of campaign funds to compensate immediate family members of candidates; disclosure of payments made to immediate 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: (d) Prohibiting compensation of immediate family members; disclosure of payments to immediate family members (1) Prohibiting compensation of immediate family members 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 an immediate family member 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 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 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, with respect to a candidate or individual, any of the following: (A) Spouse, and parents thereof. (B) Sons and daughters, and spouses thereof. (C) Parents, and spouses thereof. (D) Brothers and sisters, and spouses thereof. (E) Grandparents and grandchildren, and spouses thereof. (F) Domestic partner and parents thereof, including domestic partners of any individual in subparagraphs (A) through (E). . (b) Enforcement Section 309(d)(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 ( 52 U.S.C. 30109(d)(1) ) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: (E) Any person who knowingly and willfully commits a violation of section 313(d) shall be fined not more than the greater of 200 percent of the amount of the compensation paid in violation of such section or $100,000 for each violation of such section, imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both. . (c) 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 (d), for otherwise . 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(d) 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(d) of such Act ( 52 U.S.C. 30114(d) ), 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). . 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.