[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1705 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1705

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require political 
    parties to submit reports to the Federal Election Commission on 
  expenditures of any funds used to influence an election for Federal 
  office and to require reports to the Commission on any independent 
    expenditures which mention a political party or a candidate for 
          election for Federal office, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 1997

   Mr. Horn (for himself, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mrs. Johnson of 
  Connecticut, Mr. Boehlert, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Castle, Mr. Dooley of 
 California, Mr. English of Pennsylvania, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Hobson, Mr. 
   Kolbe, Mr. Lazio of New York, Mr. Nethercutt, Mr. Price of North 
   Carolina, Mr. Quinn, Ms. Rivers, Mr. Tierney, and Mr. Strickland) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                            House Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require political 
    parties to submit reports to the Federal Election Commission on 
  expenditures of any funds used to influence an election for Federal 
  office and to require reports to the Commission on any independent 
    expenditures which mention a political party or a candidate for 
          election for Federal office, 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 ``Campaigns in the Sunshine Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS UNDER FEDERAL ELECTION 
              CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1971 TO CERTAIN EXPENDITURES.

    (a) Soft Money Expenditures of Political Parties.--Section 304(b) 
of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(b)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (7);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (8) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(9) in the case of a reporting committee which is a 
        political party committee, any information which would 
        otherwise be required to be reported under this subsection if 
        the term `expenditure' included any amount expended by the 
        committee for the purpose of influencing an election for 
        Federal office.''.
    (b) Independent Expenditures.--
            (1) Additional report for persons first making expenditures 
        after deadline for pre-election report.--Section 304(c) of such 
        Act (2 U.S.C. 434(c)) is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``Statements'' 
                and inserting ``Except as provided in paragraph (4), 
                statements''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
    ``(4) In addition to any statements required to be filed in 
accordance with subsection (a)(2), any person who first makes 
independent expenditures with respect to an election in an aggregate 
amount or value in excess of $1,000 after the deadline for filing a 
pre-election report under subparagraph (A)(i) of such subsection shall 
file a statement containing the information described in paragraph (2) 
at the time the person makes independent expenditures in such aggregate 
amount or value.''.
            (2) Expanding scope of expenditures subject to reporting.--
        Section 304(c) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 434(c)), as amended by 
        paragraph (1), is further amended by adding at the end the 
        following new paragraph:
    ``(5) For purposes of this subsection, the term `independent 
expenditure' means--
            ``(A) an independent expenditure described in section 
        301(17); or
            ``(B) any other payment (without regard to whether the 
        payment is otherwise treated as an expenditure under this 
        title) which is used to produce or distribute any broadcast 
        material, newspaper, magazine, billboard, direct mail, phone 
        bank operation, or similar type of public communication or 
        political advertising which refers to a clearly identified 
        candidate or political party, which is made without cooperation 
        or consultation with any candidate or any authorized committee 
        or agent of such candidate, and which is not made in concert 
        with, or at the request or suggestion of, any candidate, or any 
        authorized committee or agent of such candidate (other than any 
        payment which would be described in clause (i), (iii), or (v) 
        of section 301(9)(B) if the payment were an expenditure under 
        such section).''.
            (3) Clarification of requirement to report persons making 
        contributions for certain independent expenditures.--The second 
        sentence of paragraph (2) of section 304(c) of such Act (2 
        U.S.C. 434(c)) is amended by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting the following: ``, together with the information 
        described in subparagraph (C) of the previous sentence.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

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