[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1932 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1932

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to limit the amount 
 of nonconstituent contributions that a candidate may accept, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 8, 1996

  Mr. Abraham introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to limit the amount 
 of nonconstituent contributions that a candidate may accept, 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. LIMIT ON AMOUNT OF NONCONSTITUENT CONTRIBUTIONS AND 
              MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT A 
              CANDIDATE MAY ACCEPT.

    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:

``SEC. 324. LIMIT ON AMOUNT OF NONCONSTITUENT CONTRIBUTIONS AND 
              POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT A CANDIDATE 
              MAY ACCEPT.

    ``(a) Definition.--In this section, the term `nonconstituent 
source' means--
            ``(1) an individual that is a resident of a State other 
        than a candidate's State (in the case of a candidate for the 
        Senate) or district (in the case of a candidate for the House 
        of Representatives);
            ``(2) a multicandidate political committee that, during any 
        calendar year, accepts from residents of a candidate's State 
        contributions in an amount that is not more than 10 percent of 
        the total amount of contributions accepted by the committee; 
        and
            ``(3)(A) a separate segregated fund of a corporation that 
        does not have an office in the candidate's State (in the case 
        of a candidate for the Senate) or district (in the case of a 
        candidate for the House of Representatives); and
            ``(B) a separate segregated fund of a labor organization, 
        membership organization, or unincorporated cooperative not more 
        than 10 percent of the members of which are residents of the 
        candidate's State (in the case of a candidate for the Senate) 
        or district (in the case of a candidate for the House of 
        Representatives).
    ``(b) Prohibition.--A candidate for election to the Senate or House 
of Representatives, and the candidate's authorized committees, shall 
not accept for use in an election--
            ``(1) an amount of contributions from nonconstituent 
        sources that exceeds 33 percent of the total amount of 
        contributions accepted by the candidate or candidate's 
        authorized committees; or
            ``(2) an amount of contributions from multicandidate 
        political committees and separate segregated funds that exceeds 
        20 percent of the total amount of contributions accepted by the 
        candidate or candidate's authorized committees.''.

SEC. 2. CONTROL OF CONTRIBUTIONS BY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES.

    Title III of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 
431 et seq.) (as amended by section 1) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:

``SEC. 325. CONTROL OF CONTRIBUTIONS BY MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL 
              COMMITTEES AND SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUNDS.

    ``(a) In General.--It shall be unlawful for a multicandidate 
political committee or a separate segregated fund established under 
section 316(b) to make a contribution to or an expenditure on behalf 
of, or an expenditure in opposition to, a candidate or candidate's 
authorized committee, political party, or any other person unless the 
decision to make the contribution or expenditure is made by vote of the 
contributors to the multicandidate political committee or separate 
segregated fund conducted in accordance with the regulation issued by 
the Commission under subsection (b).
    ``(b) Regulation.--
            ``(1) In general.--The regulation under subsection (a) 
        shall require, at a minimum, that a multicandidate political 
        committee or separate segregated fund--
                    ``(A) send to each of its contributors a form, in 
                the form set forth in paragraph (2), for the 
                contributor to return to the committee or fund that 
                states the percentages in which the contributor desires 
                the amount of contributions made by the contributor to 
                be contributed to the party organizations and 
                candidates of each political party;
                    ``(B) make contributions and expenditures in 
                accordance with the percentages specified by each 
                contributor (unless a contributor specifies percentages 
                that total more than or less than 100 percent, in which 
                case contributions and expenditures shall be made to 
                the parties for which percentages are specified pro 
                rata); and
                    ``(C) maintain the forms for a period of 5 years 
                after the forms are returned to the committee and allow 
                inspection of the forms by the Commission and by 
                contributors to the committee or fund.
            ``(2) Form.--The form referred to in paragraph (1)(A) is as 
        follows:

     ``MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEE/SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUND 
                     CONTRIBUTOR PARTICIPATION FORM

``Please indicate what percentage of your contribution you want to go 
to the party organizations and/or candidates of each of the political 
parties listed below*:
``(List all political parties that are on the official ballot of the 
contributor's State):
``EXAMPLES
        ``____ Republican Party
        ``____ Democrat Party
        ``____ Libertarian Party
        ``____ Natural Law Party
        ``____ Reform Party
        ``____ American Independent Party
        ``____ Taxpayers' Party
        ``____ ________________ Party

``*If for any reason your specified percentages total more or less than 
100 percent, your contribution will be allocated pro rata in accordance 
with your indicated choices.

``This form must be kept on file for 5 years by the multicandidate 
political committee or the separate segregated fund and is subject to 
inspection by the Federal Election Commission and by the contributors 
to the committee or the fund.''.

SEC. 3. INCREASE IN INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION LIMIT.

    Section 315(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 
U.S.C. 441a(a)) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A) by striking ``$1,000'' and 
        inserting ``$1,910''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) Indexing.--The $1,910 amount under paragraph (1)(A) 
        shall be increased as of the beginning of each calendar year 
        based on the increase in the price index determined under 
        subsection (c), except that the base period shall be calendar 
        year 1996.''.
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