113 HR 20 IH: Government By the People Act of 2014 U.S. House of Representatives 2014-02-05 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I113th CONGRESS2d SessionH. R. 20IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESFebruary 5, 2014Mr. Sarbanes (for himself, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Barber, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Bera of California, Mr. Bishop of New York, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Braley of Iowa, Mr. Carney, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Clay, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Cummings, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Delaney, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Edwards, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Engel, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Esty, Mr. Farr, Ms. Frankel of Florida, Ms. Fudge, Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Garcia, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Gutiérrez, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Himes, Mr. Holt, Mr. Honda, Mr. Horsford, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Israel, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Jones, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Kind, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Loebsack, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Maffei, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Ms. Matsui, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Meng, Mr. Michaud, Mr. George Miller of California, Ms. Moore, Mr. Moran, Mr. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Nolan, Ms. Norton, Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Payne, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Peters of California, Mr. Peters of Michigan, Ms. Pingree of Maine, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Polis, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Rush, Ms. Linda T. Sánchez of California, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Schwartz, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Sires, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Speier, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Takano, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Walz, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Welch, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. Brownley of California, and Ms. Castor of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concernedA BILLTo reform the financing of Congressional elections by broadening participation by small dollar donors, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short Title

This Act may be cited as the Government By the People Act of 2014.(b)

Table of contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows:Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.Title I—Participation in Funding of ElectionsSubtitle A—My Voice Tax CreditSec. 101. Refundable tax credit for congressional House campaign contributions.Subtitle B—My Voice Voucher Pilot ProgramSec. 111. Establishment of pilot program.Sec. 112. Voucher program described.Sec. 113. Reports.Sec. 114. Election cycle defined.Title II—Small Dollar Financing of Congressional Election CampaignsSec. 201. Benefits and eligibility requirements for candidates.Title V—Small Dollar Financing of Congressional Election CampaignsSubtitle A—BenefitsSec. 501. Benefits for participating candidates.Sec. 502. Procedures for making payments.Sec. 503. Use of funds.Sec. 504. Qualified small dollar contributions described.Subtitle B—Eligibility and CertificationSec. 511. Eligibility.Sec. 512. Qualifying requirements.Sec. 513. Certification.Subtitle C—Requirements for Candidates Certified as Participating CandidatesSec. 521. Contribution and expenditure requirements.Sec. 522. Administration of campaign.Sec. 523. Preventing unnecessary spending of public funds.Sec. 524. Remitting unspent funds after election.Subtitle D—Enhanced Match SupportSec. 531. Enhanced support for general election.Sec. 532. Eligibility.Sec. 533. Amount.Sec. 534. Waiver of authority to retain portion of unspent funds after election.Subtitle E—Administrative ProvisionsSec. 541. Freedom From Influence Fund.Sec. 542. Government by the People Oversight Commission.Sec. 543. Administration by Commission.Sec. 544. Violations and penalties.Sec. 545. Appeals process.Sec. 546. Indexing of amounts.Sec. 547. Election cycle defined.Sec. 202. Contributions and expenditures by multicandidate and political party political committees on behalf of participating candidates.Sec. 203. Prohibiting use of contributions by participating candidates for purposes other than campaign for election.Title III—Other Administrative ReformsSec. 301. Expanding requirement to disclose bundlers who are registered lobbyists to all bundlers.Sec. 302. Petition for certiorari.Sec. 303. Filing by all candidates with Commission.Sec. 304. Electronic filing of FEC reports.Sec. 305. Effective date.Title IV—Expanding Candidate Access to AdvertisingSec. 401. Broadcasts by candidates.Title V—Contributions to Freedom From Influence FundSec. 501. Voluntary contributions to the Freedom From Influence Fund.Title VI—Miscellaneous ProvisionsSec. 601. Severability.

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202.

Contributions and expenditures by multicandidate and political party political committees on behalf of participating candidates

(a)

Authorizing Contributions Only From Separate Accounts Consisting of Qualified small dollar contributions

Section 315(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:(9)In the case of a multicandidate political committee or any political committee of a political party, the committee may make a contribution to a candidate who is a participating candidate under title V with respect to an election only if the contribution is paid from a separate, segregated account of the committee which consists solely of contributions which meet the following requirements:(A)Each such contribution is in an amount which meets the requirements for the amount of a qualified small dollar contribution under section 504(a)(1) with respect to the election involved.(B)Each such contribution is made by an individual who is not otherwise prohibited from making a contribution under this Act.(C)The individual who makes the contribution does not make contributions to the committee during the year in an aggregate amount that exceeds the limit described in section 504(a)(1)..(b)

Permitting Unlimited Coordinated Expenditures From Small Dollar Sources by Political Parties

Section 315(d) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 441a(d)) is amended—(1)in paragraph (3), by striking The national committee and inserting Except as provided in paragraph (5), the national committee; and(2)by adding at the end the following new paragraph:(5)The limits described in paragraph (3) do not apply in the case of expenditures in connection with the general election campaign of a candidate for the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress who is a participating candidate under title V with respect to the election, but only if—(A)the expenditures are paid from a separate, segregated account of the committee which is described in subsection (a)(9); and(B)the expenditures are the sole source of funding provided by the committee to the candidate..

203.

Prohibiting use of contributions by participating candidates for purposes other than campaign for election

Section 313 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 439a) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:(d)

Restrictions on Permitted Uses of Funds by Candidates Receiving Small Dollar Financing

Notwithstanding paragraph (2), (3), or (4) of subsection (a), if a candidate for election for the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress is certified as a participating candidate under title V with respect to the election, any contribution which the candidate is permitted to accept under such title may be used only for authorized expenditures in connection with the candidate’s campaign for such office..