[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3019 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3019

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit the use 
 of soft money by political parties, to permit individuals to elect to 
  not have payroll deductions used for political activities, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 9, 1997

Mrs. Linda Smith of Washington introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on House Oversight, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, 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 concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit the use 
 of soft money by political parties, to permit individuals to elect to 
  not have payroll deductions used for political activities, 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-Money Laundering and Paycheck 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. BAN ON NON-FEDERAL FUNDS OF POLITICAL PARTIES.

    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 new section:

          ``ban on use non-federal funds of political parties

    ``Sec. 323. (a) Ban Described.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as otherwise provided in this 
        section, no funds may be solicited, contributed, or expended by 
        any political party committee for purposes of any activity 
        influencing an election for Federal office (without regard to 
        whether the activity involved also influences any other 
        election) unless the funds are subject to the limitations, 
        prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act.
            ``(2) Examples of activities covered.--For purposes of 
        paragraph (1), the following activities shall be considered to 
        be examples of activities influencing an election for Federal 
        office:
                    ``(A) Voter registration.
                    ``(B) Absentee ballot programs.
                    ``(C) Get-out-the-vote programs.
                    ``(D) Generic campaign activity.
                    ``(E) The making or disseminating of any 
                communication which identifies (by name, likeness, or 
                representation) any candidate for election for Federal 
                office.
    ``(b) Political Party Committee Defined.--For purposes of this 
section, the term `political party committee' means a political 
committee which is a national, State, district, or local political 
party committee (including any subordinate committee thereof).''.

SEC. 3. PERMITTING INDIVIDUALS TO ELECT TO NOT HAVE PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS 
              USED FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES.

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

 ``permitting individuals to elect to not have payroll deductions used 
                        for political activities

    ``Sec. 324. (a) Right of Individuals To Make Election.--
            ``(1) In general.--No amounts withheld from an individual's 
        wages or salary during a month may be used by any person 
        receiving the withheld amounts for any political activity if 
        the individual has in effect an election to prohibit the 
        withholding of such amounts during the month for such 
        activities.
            ``(2) Period for which election is in effect.--Except as 
        provided in paragraph (3), an individual's election to prohibit 
        the withholding of amounts for political activities shall be in 
        effect for all months beginning after the expiration of the 30-
        day period which begins on the date the individual notifies the 
        person involved of the election.
            ``(3) Right of revocation and renewal.--An individual with 
        an election in effect under paragraph (1) may revoke the 
        election at any time, and the election shall no longer be in 
        effect beginning with the first month which begins after the 
        expiration of the 30-day period which begins on the date the 
        individual notifies the person involved of the revocation of 
        the election. An individual who revokes an election under this 
        paragraph may at any time renew the election in accordance with 
        paragraphs (1) and (2).
    ``(b) Information Provided by Withholding Person to New Employees 
and Members.--Each person who first withholds wages or salary from an 
individual after December 1, 1998, shall provide the individual (at the 
time the person first withholds wages or salary from the individual) 
with a statement explaining the individual's right under this section 
to have an election in effect and to revoke the election.
    ``(c) Political Activity Defined.--In this section, the term 
`political activity' means--
            ``(1) attempting to influence legislation;
            ``(2) participating or intervening in (including the 
        publishing or distributing of statements) any political 
        campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for 
        public office; or
            ``(3) influencing or attempting to influence the selection, 
        nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to any 
        Federal, State, or local public office or to any office in a 
        political party, committee, association or fund.''.

SEC. 4. REQUIRING REPORTING WITHIN 24 HOURS OF ALL CONTRIBUTIONS 
              RECEIVED WITHIN 20 DAYS OF ELECTION.

    (a) In General.--Section 304(a)(6)(A) of the Federal Election 
Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(6)(A)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(6)(A) Each political committee shall notify the Secretary or the 
Commission, and the Secretary of State, as appropriate, in writing, of 
any contribution received by the committee during the period which 
begins on the 20th day before an election and ends at the time the 
polls close for such election. This notification shall be made within 
24 hours (or, if earlier, by midnight of the day on which the 
contribution is deposited) after the receipt of such contribution and 
shall include the name of the candidate and the office sought by the 
candidate, the identification of the contributor, and the date of 
receipt and amount of the contribution.''.
    (b) Availability of Information on Internet.--Section 304(a)(6) of 
such Act (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(6)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subparagraph:
    ``(C)(i) The Commission shall make the information contained in the 
reports submitted under this paragraph available on the Internet and 
publicly available at the offices of the Commission as soon as 
practicable (but in no case later than 24 hours) after the information 
is received by the Commission.
    ``(ii) In this subparagraph, the term `Internet' means the 
international computer network of both Federal and non-Federal 
interoperable packet-switched data networks.''.

SEC. 5. MODIFICATION OF PROHIBITION AGAINST SOLICITATION OF CAMPAIGN 
              CONTRIBUTIONS BY FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS.

    (a) Solicitation of Non-Federal Funds.--Section 607 of title 18, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``within the meaning of 
        section 301(8) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c) In this section, the term `contribution' means any payment of 
any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything 
of value made in support of the activities of a political committee 
established and maintained by a national political party or the party, 
or otherwise made for purposes of influencing directly or indirectly 
any election for Federal office.''.
    (b) Clarification of Applicability to Solicitation of Persons 
Outside of Building and Persons Who Are Not Federal Employees.--Section 
607(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking the 
period at the end of the first sentence and inserting the following: 
``, without regard to whether such person or the person to whom the 
solicitation is directed is mentioned in such section, or to whether 
the person to whom the solicitation is directed is in such room, 
building, navy yard, fort, or arsenal at the time the solicitation is 
made.''.
    (c) Treatment of All Areas of White House and Vice Presidential 
Mansion as Federal Building.--The first sentence of section 607(a) of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking ``any room or 
building'' and inserting ``any room in the White House (including the 
Executive Residence) or the official residence of the Vice President, 
or in any room or building''.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    Except where otherwise provided, the amendments made by this Act 
shall apply with respect to elections occurring after December 1998.
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